BNP asks leaders to boycott courts, announces non-cooperation movement

 The BNP has announced a non-cooperation movement against the government, calling upon  the party's leaders and activists not to appear in court over any case. 

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the movement on behalf of the party's acting chairman Tarique Rahman at a virtual press briefing yesterday. 

Rizvi urged the people not to cooperate with the government by suspending payment of taxes, and water, gas and electricity bills starting from yesterday.

He also called on voters to boycott the 12th Jatiya Sangsad elections slated for 7 January.

Urging returning officers and polling agents to refrain from their duties during the elections, the BNP leader said, "Do not go to polling stations, do not play games with elections. The list of those who will become MPs in the next elections has already been fixed."

Addressing citizens, Rizvi said, "The government has looted the majority of [the country's] money through the banking sector. So, think about whether it is safe to deposit money in the bank."

Explaining the reason for launching the non-cooperation movement, Rizvi said, "Sheikh Hasina's fascist government has seized all the rights of people, including fundamental rights, human rights, voting rights, right to protest. The freedom, sovereignty, and existence of the country are under threat today.

"The BNP, along with all the patriotic political parties of the country, is fighting to get people their rights back in this terrible, uncertain and dark time.

"There is a plot to make Bangladesh a satellite state of another country. On 7 January, autocrat Sheikh Hasina plans to seal her stay in power through yet another bogus one-sided dummy election."

Calling for a countrywide dawn-to-dusk blockade on 24 December in a separate virtual press briefing later in the day, Rizvi said the party would organise campaigns in support of its non-cooperation movement on 21, 22 and 23 December.

Following the BNP's announcement of the movement and blockade, the Jamaat-e-Islam also announced its solidarity with the BNP's political programmes.

When asked about arrested BNP men not appearing in court, BNP Joint Secretary General Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon told The Business Standard, "BNP leaders and activists accused in false cases will not appear in court from now on, bail will be sought for the jailed activists including senior leaders, and the arrested leaders will not appear in court as part of the non-cooperation movement. Pro-BNP lawyers will only go to court on cases to free jailed leaders."

The BNP claims that since the current ruling party came to power in 2009, some 2,687 persons have become victims of extrajudicial killings by law enforcement agencies, along with at least 675 documented instances of enforced disappearances. 

Over 138,500 politically motivated cases have been launched against 50 lakh members of the BNP and other democratic parties. Since the grand rally on 28 October, over 22,000 leaders and activists have been arrested and 21 party men have been killed. The total number of inmates in jail is almost 2.5 times the capacity, even as the spree of arrests continues, claimed the party.

The party also claimed that around four crore voters out of a total of 12 crore could not cast their votes since 2009.

The BNP's Legal Affairs Secretary Barrister Kayser Kamal at a press briefing on 18 December claimed that a total of 1,249 party leaders and activists have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in 79 cases in the last 14 weeks.

He also alleged that Awami League men and police conduct joint attacks and home raids, involving gunfire, hacking, and cocktail bombs, resulting in the displacement of millions of activists.