Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday alleged police 'launched attack on opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque with an intention to kill him'.
The BNP acting secretary general also demanded immediate resignation of home minister Sahara Khatun for launching the attack on the opposition chief whip and other opposition lawmakers.
Police beat up Zainul Abdin Farroque leaving him seriously injured after he locked into an altercation with police at Manik Mia Avenue in front of parliament building on Wednesday, the first day of the two-day general strike called by BNP and its allies.
'Police launched the attack on Farroque in a bid to kill him,' alleged Mirza Fakhrul while addressing a press conference at the party's central office at Naya Paltan.
'Without any provocation, police attacked Farroque and other BNP lawmakers soon after they concluded a pro-hartal procession,' Fakhrul said.
Farroque was fatally wounded in the police attack and was undergoing treatment in the city's United Hospital, said the BNP leader.
He said, 'Farroque's injury was so fatal that he had to have a total of 19 stitches including 11 on his head.'
'It is a manifestation of the atrocities the Awami League-led autocratic regime has unleashed against the opposition,' he said.
Claiming the first day of the nationwide shutdown to be a 'successful one', Fakhrul said, 'The government employed its police force and thugs to repress the opposition activists like Hitler's Gestapo force did.'
He claimed that more then 400 BNP activists were arrested and some 450 leaders and activists were injured in 'attacks by police and ruling party goons' during the hartal hours at different parts of the country.
'Of 400 arrested, some 80 were picked up from the capital,' he added.
BNP alleged that some 25 opposition activists were sentenced to different terms by mobile courts during the hartal hours.
He demanded immediate release of the arrested leaders and activists and withdrawal of the 'false' cases filed against them.
Warning the government of dire consequences, Fakhrul said, 'Stop repression on the political rivals. Its consequences will not be good at all.'
Mirza Fakhrul said that the government has set bad precedence by passing the 15th amendment to the Constitution unilaterally exploiting its brut majority in parliament.
He thanked people for observing the first day of the general strike successfully. He also expressed his regret for the inconveniences caused to the people due to the strike.
In reply to a question, Fakhrul said the main opposition would take legal steps against 'police brutality' on the opposition chief whip.
Asked whether they would announce any action programmes against the 'police attack', he said soon after the 48-hour hartal, the party would take a decision in this regard.
Source : New Age
