AL govt has become enemy of people: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was talking to reporters after visiting the house of BNP's disappeared leader Chodhury Alam

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday alleged that the Awami League government has become the enemy of the people by resorting to repressive acts and unleashing misrule.

“Awami League has usurped power by snatching people’s basic rights systematically. A horrible situation has been created in the country due to its misrule and misdeeds, including enforced disappearance,” he said.

The BNP leader also said the current government has taken a stance against the country’s people in every aspect. “This regime has been identified as the enemy of the country’s people.”

Fakhrul was talking to reporters after visiting the house of BNP leader Chodhury Alam who was made disappeared on June 24, 2010, from the capital’s Farmgate area.

Fakhrul together with some BNP leaders went to Alam’s Khilgaon residence, marking the 12 anniversary of his enforced disappearance.

He talked to the family members and enquired about their condition.

Fakhrul said those who have been made disappeared have been deprived of their right to life while their family members have been left in the lurch.

He said families of the enforced disappearance victims are not getting the inheritance certificate and property ownership, and they cannot transact money kept in the bank accounts of their missing dear ones. “These families are in dire straits.”

“Chowdhury Alam has been missing for 12 years since the repressive force of the government picked him up. Despite frantic efforts, nether neither his family nor our party could trace him. This regime also couldn’t say anything about his whereabouts.” Fakhrul said.

He said many such incidents have taken place since the Awami League government came to power.

The BNP leader said more than 600 BNP leaders and activists, including former MP Ilias Ali, have been subjected to enforced disappearance during the rule of the Awami League.

He said it is clearly mentioned in the United Nations Charter, that enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity. “But the fascist and autocratic regime has resorted to such incidents.”

He said many parents lost their children, while many wives lost their husbands over the last 15 years of Awami League’s misrule.

Fakhrul said people have been subjected to extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and killing in custody only to suppress democratic movements, “It can’t happen in a civilised society.”

About the flood situation, Fakhrul who visited Sylhet on Thursday, said people are crying for help as the government is not standing beside them with adequate relief materials.

“I myself went to Sylhet yesterday (Thursday). If you don't see it with your own eyes, you can't have any idea about its severity,” he said.

Fakhrul alleged that the government has not taken any measures to alleviate the sufferings of the flood-hit people and to provide relief to them and to rehabilitate them."

He called upon the country’s people to get united to force the current government to quit and hand power to a non-party neutral administration, reports UNB.