The BNP does not recognise those who attacked on police outside the High Court on Tuesday, saying they were infiltrators not its activists.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with his party's stance during a media briefing at the BNP headquarters in Dhaka on Wednesday.
“The incident made headlines but to be very frank, we do not recognise these people. They are infiltrators we fear,” he said.
Fakhrul alleged that the government staged the scene. “The government deliberately did this to taint our peaceful protests.”
“The government aims to stir up disorder and tension on the political scene and for that, they have cooked up this case against Khaleda Zia and set a date for the verdict,” said Fakhrul.
While talking about arrested BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Fakhrul said, " Gayeshwar is aged and ill. He needs to take medicines every day. They did not even allow him to carry along the medicines."
The government was trying to create tension prior to February 8, the day set for the verdict in a graft case against Khaleda, Fakhrul said.
Fakhrul also raided residences of different BNP leaders.
“They raided the Uttara residence of our standing committee mel mber Zamir Uddin Sircar, arrested Juba Dal Joint Secretary Gazi Habib Hasan and placed Swechhasebak Dal Organising Secretary Yasin Ali on remand.”
Police also raided houses of BNP Vice-Chairman Abdul Mannan, Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Joint Secretary General Habib Un Nabi Khan Sohel, Shafiul Bari Babu, president of BNP’s Swecchasebak Dal, Dhaka Metropolitan BNP unit’s Ahsan Ullah Hasan and Juba Dal (Jinjira) President Mamun on Tuesday, Fakhrul said.
“This is how oppression is going on,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, BNP activists attacked a prison van near the High Court and snatched two detainees in the presence of Khaleda as she was returning from the court hearing, Deputy Police Commissioner Maruf Hossain Sardar said.
According to bdnews24, three cases have been started against a few hundred people over the incident.