Bangladesh PM "Desperate For One-Sided Election", Disregarding 95% Public Opinion: Rizvi

Masum Billah, Dhaka

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has become "desperate to hold another one-sided election," ignoring the people's movement, the opinion of 95% of the country's people, and calls for a fair election from across the globe, senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said today.

Speaking at a virtual press conference on Friday, he also alleged that the election commission, the police force, and the public administration loyal to the Awami League are trying to remove the BNP from the field using new formulas.

Rizvi, who is the senior joint secretary general of the BNP, also said the police start filing cases against BNP men, arrest them, and torture them on the pretext of various allegations during or after the opposition's political programmes held as part of its ongoing movement to topple the government.

"During the implementation of these programmes of the opposition parties, the ruling party and its affiliates also take positions on the streets. They conduct various violent terrorist attacks with deadly weapons, which can often be seen in videos and photos published by the media," he said.

However, the BNP leader went on to say, "Until today, I have not seen any leader of the Awami League who orders those gangsters to be arrested. So, whom does the police force of the state work for? Awami League? I strongly condemn this partisan behavior of the police."

Rizvi alleged that Prime Minister Hasina has embarked on a new mission to increase the number of voters in the polling stations in the so-called elections by keeping BNP out.

The Awami League and the officials of the local administration loyal to the party have targeted some two crore people who are benefiting through cards under the government's social safety net programme on the premier's instructions, the BNP leader further alleged.

He claimed that in the last 24 hours, 292 leaders and activists of the BNP and its affiliated organisations across the country have been arrested. Also, nine BNP activists and a journalist have been killed since 28 October."

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