Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has unleashed a destructive war on people through arson and Election sabotage to foil the upcoming elections but these acts of terrorism will ultimately threaten BNP’s ground as a political party.
While Bangladesh is now in a festive mood to welcome the forthcoming elections scheduled for January 7, BNP’s activist activists are setting fire to buses, trains and killing innocent people.
You can also read: BNP’s Ongoing Arson Spree Raises Concerns
At least 15 people have died for BNP’s brutal campaign since October 28, when the party failed to wage mass movement and chose to spread the ring of fire across the county.
But when the rope of a candle is lit, it will burn itself at the end. The people of Bangladesh, who by nature don’t tolerate extremism, will resist BNP’s terrorist activities.
Bangalees are peace-loving but strong enough to defeat evil as we see in 1952, 1971, 1990 and more. Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, Purbo Banglar Communist Party, Jamaat-E-Islami, Gonobahini, Gono Mukti Fouz, Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and other like-minded extremist parties witnessed tragic burial for their destructive nature, this time will not be different.
But the question is how long can BNP survive with this muscle-flex and sabotage attacks?
Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (December 20) urged the country’s people to build resistance against arson attacks.
She also warned that ousting the government is not as easy as setting a few vehicles on fire.
“I request to you, today everyone must take a stance against bombings, arson attacks and burning people everywhere…Where do they get so much courage to take away people’s lives or obstruct people from voting,” PM said while speaking at the inaugural election campaign rally of the Awami League at the Alia Madrasa ground of Sylhet.
Condemning the recent arson attacks, Sheikh Hasina said: “Removing railway tracks, killing people, burning them are acts of terrorism… and the BNP-Jamaat alliance has been committing these criminal and terrorist acts.”
About an arson attack on a train on Tuesday (December 19) that resulted in four casualties, including a woman and her three-year-old son, the prime minister questioned how someone could carry out such an act of violence.
“Attacks on women, children, police, journalists, common people… What kind of politics is this? They should remember that if they play with fire, it will burn their hands as well,” PM warned.
BNP’s Recent Arson Spree
BNP’s ongoing acts of terrorism saw a dramatic uptick after the failed October 28 rally when people vehemently rejected BNP’s call to unseat the government. Sensing the political defeat, BNP’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the beginning of a violent spree in front of the party’s headquarters in capital’s Naya Paltan area.
Soon after the failed rally, BNP activists brought hell to the city street, leaving a trail of deaths, blood and mayhem.
At least 15 people including police officials, journalists, women and children have died and hundreds of vehicles were set on fire.
The chief justice’s residence was vandalized, and buses onboard with passengers were burned to ashes.
On November 20, A crude bomb explosion rocked the premises of Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court in Dhaka amid BNP’s hartal-blockade movement.
On October 29, a helper of a bus was burned to death inside a parked bus as BNP arsonists set a bus of Wasim Paribahan on fire in Demra.
On November 30, a group of BNP-Jamaat miscreants hurled three cocktails at the office of Dhaka Division Commissioner and Returning Officer at Segunbagicha in the capital.
On December 13 amidst the 11th phase of BNP-Jamaat’s nationwide blockade, a man,35, was killed and 10 others were injured as a train derailed on a section of the Dhaka-Mymensingh rail line in Gazipur where the tracks were damaged by the BNP-Jamaat supporters.
The evil axis again on December 19 set three coaches of Mohanganj Express on fire near Tejgaon Railway Station area of Dhaka killing four passengers, including a woman and her three-year-old son.
BNP’s blood thirst seems not stopped but boosted as the election nears and they are not finding people on their side to oppose the elections. But the violent tactics are bound to fail without people’s resonance.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the BNP-Jamaat alliance had unleashed a reign of election sabotage to foil the election, adding that none would accept any sort of militant and terrorist activities in
She said: “If anyone does this, one day the people of the country will throw them out. That is the reality.”
Orders Coming from London
Awami League President Sheikh Hasina mentioned that the arson attacks in Bangladesh are being orchestrated from London.
“An individual issues orders while living in London and his followers set fire here in Bangladesh,” she said.
BNP started losing ground as a political party after Tarique Rahman, a fugitive criminal and convicted of planning a failed assassination of Sheikh Hasina, emerged as the sole decision-making authority in the BNP, sidelining senior party leaders.
Living a fugitive life in London, Tarique virtually leading BNP’s goons to unrest Bangladesh.
In November 2008, the US Ambassy in Bangladesh labelled Tarique as a “notorious and feared figure” and “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics in Bangladesh”
In the confidential cable (Canonical ID 08DHAKA1143_a) to the Secretary of State, seeking suspending entry of Tarique Rahman to the United State, Ambassador James F. Moriarty wrote: “The Embassy is seeking a security advisory opinion under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Presidential Proclamation 7750, suspending the entry into the United States of Tarique Rahman. The Embassy believes Tarique is guilty of egregious political corruption”.
Ambassador Moriarty further wrote: “Notorious for flagrantly and frequently demanding bribes in connection with government procurement actions and appointments to political office, Tarique is a symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics in Bangladesh. His release occurred despite multiple pending cases against him on charges of, inter alia, corruption, extortion, bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion”.
Accusing Tarique Rahman of accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars, Ambassador James F. Moriarty wrote:
On August 21, 2004, at the direct instructions of Tarique Rahman, terrorists of BNP along with members of militancy outfits such as Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI) launched grenade attacks targeting Sheikh Hasina and leaders of Awami League.
According to the court verdict, this gruesome attack was a well-orchestrated plan through abuse of state power. All the accused, including BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman and former top intelligence officials, were found guilty and handed down various punishments for the grenade attacks that killed 24 people and injured scores. In the murder case, Tarique and 18 others were sentenced to life in prison.
Tarique Rahman also was behind insurgency inside India
Major General Gaganjit Singh, former Deputy Director General of India’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman was the mastermind of 10 truck arms haul in Chattogram [Chittagong] in 2004.
Talking to India Today and a television channel in Bangladesh, he said the arms were being supplied under the direct patronization of the then BNP-Jamaat alliance to use Bangladesh as a sanctuary.
Ten trucks full of arms seized at Chittagong in April 2004 were meant not only for the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) but also for a few other rebel groups in India’s northeast to destabilize the country, he added.
