Govt takes elections as weapon to establish fascism, alleges Fakhrul

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said people of the country do not live under a monarchy.
He said people have liberated the nation through the war of liberation with a dream to build a democratic Bangladesh. But the dream of establishing democracy in the country is still absent.
He came up with the observations during a doa mahfil - seeking early recovery of ailing party chairperson Khaleda Zia and senior leaders Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Rafiqul Islam Mia - at the BNP central office in the capital's Naya Paltan area on Monday.
Mirza Fakhrul termed the government as 'fascist', saying that this government has filed cases against 3.5 million BNP leaders and activists of all tiers.
He noted that the government claims that it has shown compassion to Khaleda Zia and allowed her to stay at her residence. But BNP did not seek any mercy from the government, rather sought justice for Khaleda Zia. "We sought the justice that she deserved." The BNP secretary general said the room in the prison, where Khaleda Zia was kept, was not appropriate for living and thus she got ill.
When Khaleda Zia became seriously ill, her doctors suggested her to take abroad for better treatment. But the government did not respond to their suggestions, and sent her home soon after the coronavirus outbreak.
He alleged that she was being deprived of her legal rights by the government, as the doctors recommended receiving treatment abroad for her.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, vice-president Barkatullah Bulu and convener of Dhaka North unit Aman Ullah Aman were present, among others, in the doa mahfil.
Meanwhile, BNP got verbal assurance of cooperation from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Monday for holding rally at Nayapaltan on Wednesday.
Earlier, a BNP delegation met the DMP commissioner and sought police cooperation for holding the rally. BNP publicity secretary Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie informed media about it after the meeting.
"We announced to hold a rally at 3:00 pm on July 12 at Nayapaltan party office for realising our demands, including resignation of the government and holding a free and fair national election under a neutral caretaker government."
He noted that the BNP team had a fruitful meeting with the DMP commissioner, who assured them of extending cooperation, so that the party could hold their rally peacefully.
The BNP publicity secretary hoped that the law-enforcement agencies would extend their cooperation to hold the rally, from where his party would announce new anti-government programmes.
Meanwhile UNB adds: Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the government has taken the elections as a weapon to establish fascism.
"Their only target is to establish one-party fascism by destroying democracy and the opposition parties. They tried to do this in the past, but could not succeed due to political changeover at that time...they're pursuing this goal in a different style this time by taking elections as their weapon," he said.
He said they are being forced to carry out the movement as the government is not allowing holding free and fair elections in the country. "We want a change through the election. But you (govt) are holding the elections in your own style taking the results in your favour. That system can't continue."