BNP now ridicules Shahbagh protest
Wonders 'how blogger Rajib lived so long'; where all those food come from
Staff Correspondent
The BNP yesterday accused the Shahbagh youths and the government of dividing the nation in the name of the Projonmo Chattar movement.
It also said the Shahbagh demonstration was a “government-backed hocus-pocus” designed to divert people's attention from the Hasina administration's failures and corruption in various sectors.
The observations came at a rally in front of the BNP headquarters at Nayapaltan in the capital.
Around two weeks back, the main opposition party hailed the youths-led Shahbagh movement for capital punishment to 1971 war criminals.
Yesterday's rally was organised to protest the killing of four people in police firing in Manikganj during the February 24 hartal called by some Islamist parties.
At the gathering, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, "The youths' chants of hanging and slaughtering will not help build a decent society. We want to hear [from them] words of love and affection.”
He said the government had been playing with fire and it would create a division among the people.
Mentioning some recent incidents of vandalism at offices, banks and insurance organisations owned by a particular party, Fakhrul, also spokesperson of the BNP, said: “The honourable prime minister, please stop this dangerous game. Don't have people pitted against each other.”
Some leaders at the rally raised questions about the “steady and generous supply of foods” to the Shahbagh youths during their sit-in for 17 days in a row.
'RAJIB WAS DOOMED TO DIE'
Referring to the killing of blogger Rajib, BNP Vice-chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka said, “An anti-Islam blogger like him was doomed to die. I wonder how he lived this long even after writing against Islam and our dear Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).”
He threatened that if actions were not taken against the bloggers, there would be dire consequences for Sheikh Hasina and her government.
Ahmed Rajib Haidar, an activist of the Shahbagh movement, was hacked to death near his house in the city's Pallabi area on February 15.
In its first formal reaction to the movement, the BNP on February 11 said it had all along been giving positive statements about the sentiment and enthusiasm of the youths.
Some young bloggers and online activists took to Shahbagh intersection to demand death penalty for all war criminals including Abdul Quader Mollah on February 5, hours after the International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced Mollah to life in prison for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. Soon hundreds of thousands from all walks of life joined in.
BNP now ridicules Shahbagh protest