Staff Reporter:
BNP has expressed concerns over the recent unrest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), alleging that it may be part of a calculated plot to destabilize the interim government.
“I do not consider the recent incidents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to be isolated ones. There are many factors involved,” BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam said yesterday while was speaking with journalists at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office.
The BNP leader stressed the importance of the interim government engaging in discussions with major political parties to effectively manage the unrest in the CHT.
“I believe this is undoubtedly part of a strategy to destabilize the government and the political landscape of Bangladesh. The ongoing process can be viewed as an attempt to instigate a counter-revolution, un-dermining the benefits we have achieved through an uprising. Most importantly, there is an effort to initiate a process of depoliticisation,” he said.
Besides, he said the remarks made by deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while in India are having a significant impact in Bangladesh.
“Overall, the situation is not very comfortable. It’s quite uncomfortable…I can say there are valid reasons for concern,” he said.
Fakhrul assumed that vested quarters may be trying to take advantage of the vacuum of a political and elected government in Bangladesh amid the unrest in Myanmar and the ongoing rebellion in India’s Ma-nipur.
“If you consider all of these together, I believe these geopolitical incidents are very significant. But it would not be appropriate for me to comment further on the matter at this time,” he said.
The BNP leader believes that recent events following the formation of an interim government led by Dr Muhammad Yunus—including the encirclement of the Secretariat by Ansar forces, various demands from different groups, incidents of mob lynching at Dhaka and Jahangirnagar universities, and attempts to disrupt communal harmony—should not be seen as isolated incidents.
He said the main motive behind these incidents was to destabilize the interim government.
