Party men being arrested to spoil election field: BNP

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the government is arresting and repressing his party leaders and activists to damaged the level playing field of the upcoming national elections.
He said green chilli price has skyrocketed due to conspiracy by the government-backed business syndicate.
He also expressed concern over the downtrend in prices of rawhides.
The government has utterly failed to combat the inflation, he added.
Traders have been seriously affected due to low price of rawhides during Eid-ul-Azha this year, said Mirza Fakhrul.
The orphanages mainly have become victims of the price debacle of rawhides and skins this time, he added.
Mirza Fakhrul made the observations in a press release issued on Wednesday while commenting on the outcome of the party standing committee's virtual meeting held on Monday night.
The virtual meeting called upon the government to contain the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and ensure fare prices of rawhides.
He said the United Nations General Council proposed to form an independent body to investigate the fate of 1,30,000 disappeared and missing Syrian people, adding Bangladesh has refrained from voting to the proposal, which was passed by the majority members of General Council of the UN.
According to him, Bangladesh's abstention from voting was against the principle of universal human rights.
Mirza Fakhrul further said Bangladesh is a member of the UN Human Rights Commission and its (Bangladesh's) abstention from voting on the recent proposal of the UN General Council on Syria has proved that the allegations of human rights violation against the government in the international arena are not false.
The virtual meeting of the party's standing committee also condemned the government's human rights violation and anti-democratic activities.
The BNP secretary general also criticised the government's decision for amending the Bank Company Act that will allow increasing the duration of a bank director to 12 years from the existing nine years.
He also alleged that the banking sector of the country has been destroyed, saying the loan defaulters are not given due punishment rather they are provided with all kinds of facilities.