Letter not sent for appointing lobbyists, it was for protecting human rights: Fakhrul

The letter which BNP sent abroad was not for the appointment of lobbyists, said BNP's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. He said the letter was a call to international development partners to protect human rights in Bangladesh.

He was speaking at a press conference at the BNP chairperson's political office in Gulshan on Tuesday (February 1) afternoon.

Fakhrul said, "Some government ministers are raising false allegations against me. You can see for yourself who the letter was written to or what the subject matter was."

He said the BNP is the most reliable refuge for all victims of human rights violations. The biggest vanguard of the movement for the restoration of human rights and democracy.

So, the BNP seeks the support of the country's development partners as a part of its struggle.

"We want to stop all human rights violations and inform all domestic and foreign partners about the misdeeds of this government. The purpose of my letters abroad was not to appoint lobbyists but a call to international development partners to protect human rights", said the BNP secretary-general.

Mirza Fakhrul said that in the three years from 2005 to 2007, Sajeeb Wazed Joy spent $9 million on lobbying against the BNP, evidence of which is available on the official websites of the United States.

"BNP wants to know, what was the source of that money spent by Sajeeb Wazed Joy, how did that money go from Bangladesh to America?" Mirza Fakhrul added.

Complaining that the blame of hiring a lobbyist by an expatriate is being put on BNP, Fakhrul said, "We want to say that if any expatriate takes any action against the violation of democracy and human rights if he does anything out of his love for the country, he is responsible for that action, not BNP."

He further said that the BNP appreciates such patriotic steps taken by expatriates in the countries around the world for the protection of democracy and human rights and expresses solidarity with them.