Staff Reporter:
BNP on Tuesday accused the government of trying to create a climate of fear by using the Digital Secu-rity Act (DSA) to muzzle the voice of people ahead of the next national election to ‘usurp’ power again.
Speaking at a seminar, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir urged the government to repeal the DSA as it has now become a demand of mass people.
“The government has enacted such laws to hang onto power by force. The national election is nearing. They have made these laws so that no one can put up a resistance against them and register protest against their wrongdoings ahead of the election,” he said
The BNP leader said the citizens of the country are being prevented from speaking up and lodging their complaints while the journalists are being obstructed from writing by abusing the DSA.
He said the government also wants to cross the election hurdle by keeping their opponents completely out of the race using the DSA and other ‘black’ laws.
“All the black laws must be abolished. First of all, the Digital Security Act should be repealed. It’s now the demand of the country and its mass people,” Fakhrul observed.
BNP arranged the seminar titled “Digital Security Act, Democracy & Constitutional Scheme” at a city hotel. Advocate Asaduzzaman, the human rights affairs secretary of BNP, presented the keynote paper at the program.”
Some people who were reported to be the victims of the DSA and ICT Act also spoke about their ordeal at the program.
Fakhrul said the government has enacted the DSA and many other laws so that the citizens of the coun-try are afraid to speak up.
BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the DSA must be revoked as it contrary to the country’s constitution, democracy, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights-1948.
In the keynote paper, Asaduzzaman said the DSA is undoubtedly a controversial law that is being used to suppress the dissenting voices and political opponents of the government. “The application of this law affects and touches not only the fundamental rights of the citizens but also the democratic fabric of the country which is the basic structure of our Constitution.”
He urged the global community to be vocal demanding that the DSA should be repealed immediately not only to protect the citizens, and their fundamental rights, but also to ensure democracy and restore vot-ing rights.
BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Bangladesh Gono Odhikar Parishad Convenor, Dr Reza Kibria, Biplobi Workers Party general secretary Saiful Haque, Jatiya Party ( Zafar) chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider, National People’s Party (NPP) chairman Fariduz-zaman Farhad and Dhaka University teacher Prof Lutfor Rahman, among others, spoke at the seminar.
