Mir Showkat terms Saifur-Hafiz committee illegal

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Former Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) vice-chairman Mir Showkat Ali termed Saifur-Hafiz committee illegal in accordance with the BNP constitution.
The BNP former vice-chairman said this while briefing journalists at his Gulshan residence in the city Saturday, reports UNB.
"The committee was formed beyond the BNP constitutional jurisdiction as any meeting of the party's standing committee must be convened with the permission of Chairperson Khaleda Zia", he said.
Mir Showkat said that according to the BNP constitution, the party Chairperson holds absolute power.
The BNP leader questioned whether or not Saifur Rahman or his followers sought any permission from the authorities concerned to meet detained Khaleda and apprise her of the standing committee meeting.
He alleged that Saifur and Hafiz were making misleading statements about the BNP constitution and legitimacy of their committee.
"Rather, they advised Khaleda Zia to oust Oli and me", he said, adding unity in the BNP is not possible by bringing together 30 or so ex-lawmakers.
Showkat alleged that the children of the BNP leaders supporting Saifur and Hafiz were involved in corruption.
On Hannan Shah-Hafiz debate over their alleged involvement in Zia's killing, Showkat endorsed Hannan Shah's statement about Hafiz and said he also heard that Hafiz along with soldiers had gone to arrest the then army chief Ziaur Rahman in November 1975.
He said that after the killing of Ziaur Rahman in Chittagong on May 30, 1981, they wanted to contact with Gen Manzur but could not contact him due to disrupted telephone lines.
Expressing allegiance to Khaleda Zia's leadership, Showkat said he received phone calls from BNP units in as many as 41 countries outside Bangladesh who extended their support to Khaleda-Delwar leadership.
On war criminals, he said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, General Ziaur Rahman and General Manzur were killed due to conspiracies hatched by Rajakars.
The anti-liberation elements are still active as they had been in the past, he added.