Information Minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud said BNP and BNP leaders are responsible for Wednesday's incident in Nayapaltan. He said this during an exchange with journalists at the Secretariat on Thursday afternoon.
Dr Hasan said, "We have been saying for a long time that BNP wants to create chaos, not assembly. BNP has called for a rally on December 10, but on December 7, you have seen how they attacked the police in front of the BNP office in Nayapaltan, created a chaotic situation, and on Tuesday night they set fire to BRTC buses and other vehicles and horses at various places. The police also found 15 unexploded cocktails, 2 lakh water bottles, 160 sacks of rice, cooked khichuri, hari-patil and two lakh cash inside the BNP office.
The Broadcasting Minister said, 'BNP activists started gathering in Nayapaltan since afternoon and when a road was blocked there, the police repeatedly requested them to please arrange for at least one lane to be open. But they ignored that request. After that, Motijheel-Ramana Deputy Commissioner Hayat went there himself and requested again. As he pleaded, he was hit from behind with a stick and his bodyguard was charged. From there, the police were attacked with stones and bricks. A total of 35 policemen were injured including 8 policemen admitted to hospital. The police were forced to fire tear gas. A civilian died there, police believe he died of a cocktail injury. But it can be confirmed after the postmortem report comes out.
He said, 'BNP has always said that they will organize a rally of 10 lakh people. 10-20 thousand people gathered in front of Nayapaltan office. Suhrawardy Udyan has been allotted to them so that they can hold a big gathering of 1 million people. If they express reluctance to go there, they are asked to use Mirpur's Pallabi Ground, Kalshi Ground, where the BNP has held rallies in the past, or Ijtema Ground, a trade fair ground. But they announced that they will hold a rally in Nayapaltan for the dishonest purpose of creating chaos.
But we have never given any obstacle to BNP in holding a peaceful rally and the proof of that is that they have successfully held 9 big rallies across the country, the government has given all assistance to hold a peaceful rally, said Hasan Mahmud. He said, "We have instructed our party leaders and workers to be patient even in the face of their provocations so that the BNP can hold a peaceful rally. But actually because they don't want peace in the country, yesterday they created chaos and riots.
Minister Hasan reminded, 'I have said earlier that the government will not allow anyone to create chaos in the country. But they want to create chaos in the country. All the leaders of BNP who are talking loudly, as financiers, order givers or participants in arson attacks, they are almost all defendants in this crime case. Rizvi Sahib and several others went there on Wednesday with a warrant for the case. When a warranted accused walks around under the nose of the police, it becomes the duty of the police to arrest them. When a leader sits inside the office with a fresh cocktail, the government has to take action against those leaders. The government has taken that measure.
"But when BNP was in power, on August 21, 2004, an attempt was made to kill our leader by throwing grenades like rain, 24 Awami League leaders and activists were killed," the information minister recalled. He said, 'A dozen people were attacked and killed in Sheikh Helal MP's public meeting, Kibria Sahib and Ahsan Ullah Master's public meeting were attacked and killed, Suranjit Sengupta's public meeting was attacked and killed, hundreds of people were injured, including Manzoor Imam of Khulna. They killed many people and when we held a rally in front of the party office, they kept barbed wire fences on both sides. Even our late leader former Home Minister Mohammad Nasim was beaten up by the police in this Russell Square in Dhanmondi. Matia Apa, the country's most senior politician, was hounded. No one of their leaders has been treated like this, not even a firecracker has burst in any of their gatherings.
In response to the question whether the US State Department has made a statement on the country's recent affairs. Hasan said, "The US government has not made any statement. A BNP journalist who used to work in Khaleda Zia's press wing asked questions in the regular briefing there and that question was answered. This is in no way a statement of the US government. Ignoring the offer of a suitable ground for the rally, they planned to hold the rally in front of Nayapaltan and planned the incident on Wednesday and the BNP and BNP leaders are responsible for all the incidents.”
In response to a question about the World Human Rights Day on December 10, Broadcasting Minister Hasan said, 'We will send the images of BNP's human rights violations to the world community. We will inform the world community that under the leadership of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and Begum Khaleda Zia, they have committed extreme violations of human rights, committed arson in 2013-14-15 and are now robbing people's rights by setting fire to buses and trucks.