BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia said Tuesday that the 19-party alliance would launch movement shortly against the present government if it fails to hold fresh polls through a fruitful dialogue.
"We're taking some time to reorganise ourselves and hopefully we'll go for tougher movement for bringing back democracy through a fair, neutral and participatory election," chief of the alliance told the reporters at a press briefing at a city hotel.
Begum Zia alleged that a total of 242 leaders and activists of the BNP-led 19-party alliance were killed by the joint force and ruling party cadres across the country in a month until January 27 last.
A total of 60 other activists of the alliance also fell victim to forced disappearance during the period Khaleda Zia claimed while giving an account of 'torture and repression' on the 19-party alliance men.
When asked, she said their decision to boycott the January 5 parliamentary election was right. "We did not make any mistake. Rather, the illegal government has committed the fault by holding a one-sided election."
It was the second media briefing of Khaleda Zia after the January 5 parliamentary polls which was boycotted by the then BNP-led 18-party alliance as it was not held under a non-party caretaker government.
Citing the information received by the BNP central office, the former Prime Minister said 27 men of the alliance were murdered in Satkhira followed by Chandpur (23), Laxmipur (20), Cox's Bazar (17), Chittagong (15), Sirajganj (14), Chapainawabganj (13), Joypurhat (12), Noakhali (11), Feni (9), Pabna (7), Meherpur (7), Gaibandha (6), Nilphamari (6), Dinajpur (5), Bogra (5), Lalmonirhat (4), Kushtia (4), Jessore (4), Comilla (4), Khulna (4), Thakurgaon (4), Rangpur (2), Kurigram (2), Natore (2), Rajshahi (2), Naogaon (2), Chuadanga (2), Jhenidah (1), Magura (1), Bagerhat (1), Patuakhali (1) and Pirojepur (1).
"Such torture and repression on the 19-party alliance should be stopped immediately," she said after demanding a fair and neutral probe into the killings to identify the culprits behind the killings.
She appeared confident that their decision to boycott the January 5 parliamentary election was right.
In the question and answer session, a journalist drew her attention about their position not to participate in any election under the incumbent Election Commission and asked why many leaders and activists of the 19-party alliance are taking part in the upazila polls.
In reply, Khaleda Zia said this is local government election where anyone can participate. "We had told about the national election which changes the government."
She reiterated her call to the government to initiate a dialogue to find a way out of the political stalemate. The former prime minister said, "We will not continue to call for the dialogue forever. We will wait for a certain period and then we will start our movement."
The former prime minister said people of the country have responded to their call and turned away from the January 5 elections, giving a clear signal to the ruling party that they have boycotted them.
"The current government is an undemocratic government, which failed to get people's mandate. This is a big success of our ongoing movement," she said.
Khaleda Zia also called upon the government to withdraw the embargo on holding procession and rallies in the capital for the sake of democracy and freedom of speech.
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