AL demands arrest of attackers on its people

The Awami League on Thursday demanded the arrest of those who attacked the party leaders and activists and vandalised, looted and set fire to their establishments on and after August 5, the day when the AL government was ousted amid a student-led mass uprising.  

The demand was made in a statement posted on the party’s verified Facebook page.

Many of the AL leaders either went into hiding after the party president Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as prime minister and fleeing to India on August 5 or were arrested across the country on various charges, including attacks on protesters during the anti-discrimination movement for reform in the quota system in government jobs.

‘Before arresting the Awami League people, arrest the notorious terrorists of BNP, who have looted the police station and vandalised, set fire to and looted the houses of Awami League leaders and activists,’ the AL statement on Thursday said.

It said that the interim government should keep in mind that ‘these looter extremist godfathers’ would fight against the law enforcement agencies, the activities that they were doing around Dhaka city and Chittagong Hill Tracts, across the country.

‘The leaders and activists of the Awami League are being arrested. The illegal Yunus (Professor Muhammad Yunus) government is busy with killing Awami League [leaders and activists] to consolidate their power,’ the statement said.

‘If anyone thinks that he or she will destroy Awami League through torture, he or she is living in a fool’s paradise. The Awami League is a deep-rooted party. The birth of the country is related to the Awami League. Awami League, a traditional party in the country, will return with its glory, and will carry forward the unfinished development works of the country and establish Bangladesh as a developed nation in the world,’ the statement said.

The statement claimed that the AL government, showing ‘zero tolerance’ against terrorism, had brought many party activists to justice for committing misdeeds and created a peaceful environment in the country.

‘On the other hand, this illegal government, after grabbing power, has created a chaotic environment by freeing all top terrors and internationally identified extremists,’ the statement alleged.

The statement alleged that the interim government had already set a world record in capturing media offices.

‘So far, murder cases have been filed against more than one and a half hundred journalists across the country. More than three hundred journalists were sacked,’ it said.

The statement said that Yunus had recently said that the country’s history would be erased by pressing a reset button on Bangladesh’s history.

‘This [remark] is very offensive and reprehensible…He does not have the power to erase the basic and existential histories of the country,’ the statement said.