Govt to ban BNP if people want: AL

The ruling Awami on Wednesday said that the government might ban the Bangladesh Nationalist Party considering it as an ‘illegal’ political party if such demand was raised from people.
‘Time will say whether BNP would be declared illegal, but if the people want, the government may ban BNP,’ Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said at a press conference at party chief’s Dhanmondi office.
Earlier on the day, acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir said that if BNP was illegal, the Awami League was also illegal as both the parties were registered during the rule of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman.
Fakrul made the comments as the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Monday branded BNP as an ‘illegal’ political party while addressing a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan.
In response to the Fakrul’s comments, Hanif said that the Awami League took birth ‘on the soil of the country’ in 1949, while Ziaur Rahman formed the BNP inside the cantonment after his military takeover.
Hanif said that demand had already been raised from US councillors to put BNP on the list of terrorist organisations.
‘I have the documents of such demand, but at this moment I cannot give you…If you want, I will provide such documents tomorrow,’ he said as a reporters asked for documents.
About BNP’s allegation that the prime minister’s address frustrated the nation, Hanif said that the nation was not frustrated rather the BNP was highly frustrated to see the massive development works accomplished by the government.
Central AL leaders including organising secretaries Ahmad Hossain and AFM Bahauddin Nasim and office secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap were present.

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