Awami League using country’s top institutions to serve its own purposes: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir says the Awami League has been using the country's highest institutions to serve its own purposes.

"Awami League has turned the country's highest institutions – which are symbols of democracy – into centres that provide services to the ruling party," said Mirza Fakhrul, at a discussion programme at the National Press Club yesterday.

National People's Party (NPP), a partner of the BNP-led coalition, organised the programme at the National Press Club, demanding " elections and the right to vote under a non-partisan, neutral government".

"BCL hooligans entered the High Court premises and tortured those who demanded democracy, but the chief justice and leaders of the new committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association did not issue a single statement, because the government has turned all constitutional and democratic institutions into party institutions," said the BNP secretary general.

"It is a pity for our nation that after fifty years of independence, we see Awami League miscreants beating up and torturing our children with deadly weapons to kill them in the streets. People live in fear that Chhatra League or Juba League men might attack them at any time."

He said, "It is unthinkable how a person can be beaten to death. The manner in which Chhatra League hit their opponents on the highway with sticks reminds me of the monstrous incidents of killing people with logs, sticks, and oars in the Paltan area."

"This is the true face of the Awami League. It is a party of miscreants. This party has been developed like this by miscreants since its formation," said Fakhrul, adding that, "the Awami League did not allow their founder Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani to stay in the party. He was harassed in the party council, so he left and formed a new party, the National Awami Party."

"In the last 13 years, the Awami League has filed false cases against 35 lakh of our activists, disappeared 600 leaders and activists, and killed thousands of our men," said the BNP secretary general.

He said, "It is unfortunate that our country has not seen a peaceful transfer of power in 50 years. So, whenever election time comes, we see bloodshed. If we want to get out of this situation, we have to unite and wage a movement to bring back democracy. We are fighting to get our country back, not to put any party or group in power."

Jatiya Party Chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider, former vice-president of Dhaka University Students' Union, Nurul Haque Nur, BNP Vice Chairman Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Abdul Halim, National Democratic Party (NDP) Chairman M Abu Taher, and its Secretary General Shahadat Hossain spoke at the programme chaired by NPP Chairman Dr Fariduzzaman Farhad.