DHAKA: BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that now it is the Law Minister (Anisul Huq) who makes decisions about the verdict of cases not the judges.
The BNP leader made the remark at a press conference held at party office in city’s Nayapaltan area on Monday morning (August 27).
He said, “Prime Minister, Road Transport and Bridges Minister, Law Minister and senior, junior leaders of the government have been saying in media that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and party acting chairman Tarique Rahman were involved in the August 21 grenade attack.”
In his written statement, he said, “Before publication of police report in 2011, the then law minister publicly announced that Tarique Rahman will be accused in the grenade attack case. It happened likewise. How come Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said before the delivery of verdict of the case that BNP would be in crisis once the verdict is announced? This means that he knows what would be the verdict.”
Fakhrul said his party has repeatedly condemned the August 21 grenade attack on AL rally and demanded the trial of the responsible persons. However, AL’s naked effort to put BNP leaders in jeopardy using the attack incident as a weapon is just disgraceful and unacceptable.
He also said that Tarique Rahman’s name was not included in the charge-sheet submitted by ASP Fazlul Kabir on August 22 in 2007. A total of 22 people were accused in that charge-sheet and later indicted by court on October 29 in 2008.
However, the whole scenario took a dramatic turn after the Sheikh Hasina-led government came to power in 2009. The government stopped an ongoing trial and conducted further investigation. Later on July 2 in 2011, another charge-sheet was submitted accusing 30 more people including Tarique Rahman, he said.
Expressing deep condemnation and protest of such acts, Fakhrul also said, “BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has been jailed in a false case and the government is just fulfilling its political wishes using the judiciary.”
Senior BNP leaders were present at the press conference.
BDST: 1520 HRS, AUG 27, 2018
AH/AP/SMS
