BNP demands immediate release of alem-ulemas

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that alem-ulemas are being arrested indiscriminately through crackdown taking the opportunity of lockdown.

He said, “The arrest and harassment of religious leaders would not be tolerated by the devout people of the country. They must be released immediately.”

The part secretary general made the remarks at a virtual press conference on Monday afternoon.

Mirza Fakhrul said, “More than 300 BNP leaders and activists have already been arrested in the crackdown tacking the opportunity of the lockdown. On the other hand, religious leaders are being arrested indiscriminately. It is very unfortunate that religious people who are respected are being arrested and numerous false cases filed against them.”

He said, “The incidents that took place on March 26 were designed by the government. I have said before that the government had taken measures to conduct these incidents in a planned manner. You have noticed that on March 26, several religious and political organizations protested against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh.”

Mirza Fakhrul continued saying, “As we have seen, the police had the biggest role in disrupting the peaceful programme in Baitul Mukarram. Then the supporters of Awami League attacked them. That is why those incidents took place in Hathazari. Those are the facts but they never say anything about it. They are repeatedly blaming the religious organizations and BNP for the incident.”

“We have made it very clear that we had no link with that incident. The protest we have staged is against the killing of people. We have protested that the 50th anniversary of the Golden Jubilee has been tainted with the blood of people.”

The BNP secretary general said, “We want to make it clear that the religious people of this country will not accept the arrest and harassment of religious leaders in this way. We therefore call for the immediate withdrawal of these cases, the release of the alem-ulemas and the unconditional release of the arrested BNP leaders and activists and the withdrawal of all cases.”