Home ›› 08 Apr 2023 ›› Governance
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday voiced suspicion that influential ruling party leaders might have carried out the fire incident at Bangabazar market to grab the land.
“Some very influential people of the ruling Awami League have long been trying to occupy the Bangabazar market. If a real impartial investigation is conducted, there is a possibility to find out that this incident was completely carried out by the Awami League,” he said.
Speaking at a press briefing after a meeting with the 12-party liaison committee at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office in Dhaka, Fakhrul said their party wants a neutral probe into the incident to unveil the truth. Justifying his remark involving the ruling party leaders with the market fire, Fakhrul said the government has started talking about constructing multi-storey buildings at Bangabazar just a day after the incident.
A massive fire broke out at the Bangabazar Shopping Complex in Dhaka on Tuesday morning and it spread to some other nearby markets, burning down several thousand shops, mainly ready-made garment and footwear stores.
On Thursday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said investigations were being carried out to unearth whether BNP was involved in the devastating fire incident or not.
He also alleged that BNP was trying to politicise the incident instead of standing by the fire-affected people.
Polls without BNP’s participation won’t have legitimacy
Fakhrul alleged that the government has been planning to retain power through a stage-managed election as it did earlier in 2014 and 2018.
“We think that the government wants to hold a unilateral election as before. That is why they have rejected the UN’s proposal [for cooperation in the next national election],” he said.
