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BNP pays no heed to IGP’s suggestion


Published : 01 Dec 2022 09:40 PM

BNP did not agree to the suggestion of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who on Thursday requested the party to hold its December 10 rally at the open ground in Suhrawardy Udyan instead of occupying one of the busiest roads in front of the party’s office at Naya Paltan in the capital.

IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun had made the suggestion to BNP in view of avoiding public sufferings and untoward incidents.

A delegation of BNP on Thursday afternoon called on the IGP at the Police Headquarters.

In reply to the IGP’s suggestion, the BNP leaders told the IGP that they want to hold their rally programme on the roads in front of their party office at the capital’s Naya Paltan. They, however, said that they would finalize their decision about the IGP’s suggestion at the party standing committee meeting. 

The BNP leaders assured the IGP that there will be no violent activities like that happened earlier during the rallies held in the divisional headquarters. 

The IGP made the statement during a meeting with a BNP delegation on Thursday at the police headquarters. The meeting was held regarding seeking permission with regard to holding BNP's rally in Nayapaltan, Dhaka, on December 10 and the arrests of party leaders and activists.

The delegation, led by BNP Vice Chairman Barkatullah Bulu, went to the police headquarters around 12:45pm.

The other delegation members were BNP Joint Secretary General Sayed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Publicity Secretary Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie and Legal Affairs Secretary Kaiser Kamal, confirmed headquarters sources while seeking anonymity.

On the other hand, high police officials, including Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq, were also present at the meeting.

According to sources, at the meeting, the BNP delegation informed the IGP about cases being filed against BNP leaders and that they're allegedly being harassed by policemen across the country. The IGP replied he will take action if there is any misconduct by police.

It should be mentioned that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) authorities on Tuesday permitted BNP to hold its rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital on December 10 on certain conditions.

However, the next day BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir urged the government to take necessary steps so that their party can hold the rally at Nayapaltan instead of Suhrawardy Udyan.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Bulu said fictitious cases are being filed against BNP leaders and followers by police and ruling party activists after hurling crude bombs. 

“Our people are being arrested in false cases. So, we, on behalf of our secretary general, submitted a memorandum to the IGP in this regard.”

The BNP leaders said that 50 leadersand activists belonging to BNP were arrested from the High Court gate though they obtained bail from the apex court.

He said a ‘false’ case was filed in Narsingdi against BNP men accusing them of exploding crude bombs chanting slogans in the name of Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman and urging people to join the BNP Dhaka rally. “Why should we explode bombs when we invite people to come to Dhaka?”

With the letter of the BNP Secretary General, Bulu said, a list of 169 false cases--filed in between August 22 and November 26 against 6,723 identified and 15,050 unidentified people-- were given to the IGP.

Besides, he said a list of 559 arrested BNP leaders and activists was also submitted to the police boss.

About BNP’s December 10 rally, he said that the police officials raised the issue of holding the rally. “We’ve informed police that we want to hold it (meeting) at Nayapaltan. We sent two letters (to DMP) on November 13 and November 20 seeking Nayapaltan for our meeting venue. We didn't want any second venue.”

He said the police authorities urged them to arrange the rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan promising them to extend all-out support in this regard. “We said it is not our issue today…Our standing committee and the secretary general will take a decision on it.”