Govt has link with Hefazat, alleges BNP

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday alleged that it is the government, not BNP, that has a link with Hefazat-e-Islam.

“They (govt) have established a reign of terror in the country. Several thousand people have been arrested in the last few days since March 26. Our party workers in Chattogram, Brahmanbaria and Dhaka can’t stay at home at night,” he said.

Speaking at a virtual discussion, the BNP leader said, “Our leaders and workers were arrested by conducting block raids in Keraniganj. If we protest against it, they say we’ve a link with Hefazat. But the fact is that it’s you who has the link with Hefazat. You’ve made an agreement with them (Hefazat) by sitting at a meeting at the house of the Prime Minister.”

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) arranged the virtual discussion on the coronavirus situation.

Fakhrul also said the Prime Minister has clearly said her party has given Hefazat huge money and did many things for the Quami madrasas.

“So, you (AL) have taken the responsibility of Hefazat and you’ve to fulfil the responsibility. You’re deceiving people in carrying out that responsibility. You’ve lost all the confidence of people, and you’ve now started torturing them. You’ve turned this country into a police state,” he observed.

The BNP leader alleged that the government is not giving people and political parties any scope to express their own views.

Though the government talks about democracy, he said, it is unwilling to allow anyone to protest or speak against it. “You also don’t want anyone to speak against injustice and identify your mistakes. So, you can no longer be a democratic government.”

Fakhrul alleged the government has failed to tackle the coronavirus situation and ensure vaccine doses for the country’s people. “We don't know whether those who received the first dose of vaccine would get the second dose as there’s a speculation that India is not going to export the vaccine.”

He also criticised the government for depending on a single country for the vaccine instead of collecting it from different sources and countries.