DHAKA: BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the party could not mark properly the 11th prison release day of its acting chairperson Tarique Rahman as the existing situation of the country is dark and suffocating.

“Tarique is still not properly free from jail as false cases have been lodged against him to bar his entrance in country,” he said.

The senior BNP leader made the remarks at a briefing in party’s Naya Paltan office on Monday (September 3).

“The illegal caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed arrested Tarique on march 7 in 2007. False propaganda campaign and fabricated cases were lodged against him following the arrest. He was tortured brutally in remand,” he said.

“No specific allegation against Tarique has been proven true but efforts to put him in jail is still underway as the current government is an extension of the 1/11 caretaker government.”

Fakhrul also claimed that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has also been imprisoned in a false poetically motivated case and she is a victim of vengeance. “We are observing September 3 as Tarique’s prison release day but I think he is not released from prison yet.”

BDST: 1555 HRS, SEP 3, 2018

AP/SMS