Staff Reporter:
If the Awami League government stays in power anymore, the country will lose its existence as an inde-pendent state, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said yesterday.
“It has become our responsibility to protect our country, to protect our freedom, to protect our democra-cy. This (AL) government… they are actually robbers and looters. If we cannot prevent them, our inde-pendence will not exist,” he said.
The BNP leader said this while addressing a discussion meeting held on Sunday afternoon on the occa-sion of the 43rd death anniversary of President Ziaur Rahman at the National Press Club.
“I’m saying from my lifetime experience…. We cannot survive as an independent nation if we cannot free the country from the clutches of the AL govt.”
At that time, Fakhrul urges people to work together.
Highlighting Ziaur Rahman’s life and work, BNP Secretary General said, “He was a farsighted person and he did every work with full vision. How to uplift the rights of women, how to make children as good human beings, how to guide students to the right path has been done by Ziaur Rahman.”
“Ziaur Rahman will not be properly judged if he is only known by the slogans. To understand him, to know him, one must go deep into his work,” Fakhrul added.
Mirza Fakhrul said, “If you open the newspaper, you will get nothing but loot and loot. Strange! And who is doing the looting? Those who are holding the seats of power. Can you imagine? The former Chief of the Army, the IGP who maintains our law and order are involved in the corruption. Member of Parliament involved in smuggling…
“If you listen to them and see the body language of these corrupt officials, it seems that they are our masters.
“Where did he go yesterday? He used to talk like this…(gesturing to imitate Benazir showing his firearm on its holster) He would show the pistol and say it was not given to him without any reason, it was given to him to use it. He used it… Killed people, abducted people… Now where are you?
“Home minister said, he doesn’t know anything about him. How ridiculous! The state doesn’t know any-thing. So that’s the state now,” Fakhrul said.
“Bangladesh Bank was looted. Gold has disappeared; dollar reserves are being taken away from central banks, while millions of dollars were hacked from the bank. Can you imagine what is going on?” Fakhrul questioned.
He said 149 bhori gold was stolen from a bank in Chattogram branch. This is actually nothing compared to the gold that was vanishing from the volt of the central bank. Tons and tons of gold are disappearing from the bank, and thousands of crores are going out of the country. “No care, no accountability, noth-ing. The government destroyed all the institutions only to stay in power,” Fakhrul stated.
Mirza Fakhrul said, that by taking loans, our economy has become completely indebted. “This govern-ment is leaving a future generation in debt. Now the amount of that loan has already stood at Tk 1.55 lakh per capita.”
Commenting that various mega projects including Ruppur have also made the country dependent on sup-pliers’ credit, he said, “We will end up paying the debt of these projects.”
Ziaur Rahman Foundation Executive Director Prof. Farhad Halim Donor presided over the discussion meeting, Dhaka University Professor Nurul Amin Bepari, Professor Lutfar Rahman, Member Secretary of Combined Professional Council Kader Gani Chowdhury, Jahangirnagar University Professor Kamrul Ahsan, Professor Shamsul Alam Liton and Dr. Abu Nachher spoke.
