BNP urges PM to rein in BCL first

In a scathing attack on the ruling party for its student body's 'growing indulgence in violence', BNP Dhaka city unit convener Mirza Abbas said Friday it is not the BNP-led 20-party, but Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) is a 'malignant tumour' for Awami League (AL), reports UNB.

"Chattar League men killed their fellow activist in presence of police at Sylhet Shahjalal University…You (PM) please control Chhatra League before talking about the opposition. Chattar League has now become a malignant tumour for Awami League," he said.

Abbas, a BNP standing committee member, came up with the assertion countering the Prime Minister's recent comment that the BNP-led 20-party is a 'malignant tumour' for the nation when BNP-supported newly-elected Nasirabda union chairman Akbar Hossain met him, at his Shahjahanpur residence.

Sumon Chandra Das, an activist of BCL, was shot dead and 20 others were wounded in a fierce clash between the two groups of Awami League student body at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) on Thursday.

Abbas said police played a role of silent spectators during the showdown of the BCL men brandishing arm when they attacked and open fire on the democratic programmes of the opposition.

Greeting Akbar for being elected the union parishad chairman, the BNP leader said it was a victory for democracy as the country's people cast their ballots against the government's repressive acts, misrule and undemocratic attitude.

He claimed that BNP-backed candidates will win polls in any part of the country if the government holds the national election right now.

Accusing the government of annihilating democracy, the BNP policymaker said they are on a peaceful movement under the leadership of Khaleda Zia to restore democracy braving all repressive acts.

He urged people to get united to unseat the current government through a strong movement for establishing a pro-people administration.

Meanwhile, BNP senior leader Barrister Rafiqul Islam Miah termed Friday mysterious the delayed gazette notification about the appointment of Sajeeb Wazed Joy as an honourary adviser to Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina amid a controversy over his remuneration.

"Joy has been working as an adviser to the Prime Minister since she assumed office without issuing any gazette notification. What has actually necessitated it to issue a gazette notification now? The government has to clarify the mystery behind it," he said.

Barrister Miah was addressing a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club arranged by Swadhinata Forum, marking BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman' s 50th birthday.

The government has issued a gazette notification appointing PM's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy as her an honourary adviser.

According to the gazette notification of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), noted IT expert Sajeeb Wazed Joy, also the son of Sheikh Hasina, has been made PM's Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser. While discharging his duties, Joy would work as per the directives and advice of Prime Minister, according to the gazette notification dated November 17.

Barrister Miah said their party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has sought an explanation from the government about Joy's remuneration following sacked minister Abul Latif Siddique's comment at a much-talked-about programme in New York that PM's son gets $2 lakh dollars a month. "Now the government has circulated the gazette notification. Our question is why it hadn't been issued earlier?"