Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud alleged that BNP leaders and activists are extorting businessmen by intimidating them in the name of procession.
He said that half of the money being extorted in the name of rally is being sent to Tarique Rahman in London.
He said this during an exchange of views with journalists on contemporary issues in the meeting room of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the Secretariat on Sunday.
The minister said the grenade attack was carried out on August 21. It was an anti-terror rally. 24 people were killed by a grenade attack on that gathering. The attack was carried out to kill our leader. The attack was carried out to make Awami League leaderless.
He said, Shah AMS Kibria's rally was attacked, Ahsanullah Master's rally was attacked, Sheikh Helal's rally was attacked, Babu Suranjit Sengupta's rally was attacked, Awami League rallies were attacked across the country including Dhaka.
BNP is now holding a rally where this kind of incident happened? didn't happen
He said, there used to be a permanent barbed wire fence on both sides of the Awami League office on Bangabandhu Avenue. No one could cross that fence, there were police on both sides. Is there such an event now? They go to different places of Dhaka city with a procession.
Hasan Mahmud said, you know BNP is petrol bomb army, BNP are those who set fire to people's property, vandalize cars. The gathering of terrorists also took place in Chittagong rally. That is why the police conducted searches as per routine work to avoid terrorist activities. The rallies they are holding are being held without any interruption.
Extortion is being done all over the country in the name of this rally. In the name of gathering in Chittagong, they took subscriptions from traders by intimidation. They have undertaken a huge extortion scheme to hold rallies in various divisional cities of the country including Mymensingh. Besides, a part of the subscription raised in the Chittagong rally was sent to Tariq Rahman in London.
The information minister said that this is a big extortion project of BNP in the name of assembly. I heard that half of the contribution raised in the Chittagong rally has been sent to Tariq Rahman. And when BNP talks about obstruction of assembly, I would ask them to look back a bit.
He said that the government and the administration are providing facilities so that the BNP can hold a rally. But in the name of assembly they have done vandalism, arson, disruption of public life in the past. That's why the police have to be careful. And the responsibility of the government is to ensure the safety of vehicles. In the interest of that, many cases have to be searched.
How do you see the resolution of the US Congressmen on the recognition of genocide on March 25, 1971? In response to such a question, the minister said that our government has been trying for a long time to get the United Nations to recognize 25 March as Genocide Day. In 1971, 300,000 people of Bangladesh were killed, and the honor of 200,000 mothers and sisters was robbed. Such an event has not happened anywhere in the world since the Second World War.
He said the Ugandan genocide has been recognized. More people than that were killed in 1971. It must be acknowledged. That's why efforts are being made by the government in different places ie Europe, America and the United Nations and various institutions. The result of that is the presentation of this proposal in the US Congress and the US House of Representatives. Thank you to the US Congress for that, and thank you to the members of the House of Representatives. Hopefully, through this continued effort, we will get recognition of the 25 March or 1971 genocide by the United Nations.
