Members of BNP’s highest policymaking body have urged the government to take steps as per international law to stop the unacceptable killing of Bangladeshis along the border by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
At a virtual meeting on Monday, the standing committee members also worked out a three-day human-chain programme in Dhaka, Sylhet and Lalmonirhat in protest against border killings, reports UNB citing a press release issued by BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday.
As part of the programmes, he said, their party will hold a human-chain programme at Kaliganj of Lalmonirhat on November 18 and at Kanaighat of Sylhet the following day.
The party will also observe a similar programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital on November 20 to register their protests against border killings.
Fakhrul said their meeting strongly protested and expressed anger against the recent killing of Bangladeshis by BSF along the Kaliganj and Kanaighat borders.
“The meeting felt that the incidents of gunning down Bangladeshis along the border by India continue due to the government's knee-jerk foreign policy,” he said.
The BNP leader said their standing committee criticised the statement of the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh on the border killing issue. “The killing of people by opening fire along the border to stop smuggling can’t be accepted under any circumstances. We call upon the government to take action in accordance with international law.”
He said their meeting also condemned widespread violence, killing and rigging and fraudulence in the recently held Union Parishad polls.
“The decision to hold local government elections in a partisan manner is an extreme threat to the country's democracy and socio-political stability at the grassroots level,” the meeting observed.
Fakhrul said BNP policymakers think the recent local body polls have proved no election can be held in a fair and credible manner under the Awami League government.
They also opined that the electoral system in the country has been destroyed due to the naked interference of the ruling party, the biased role of the administration, and the utter failure of the Election Commission.
The meeting urged the government to step down immediately, paving the way for holding a credible national election in the country under a neutral administration.
The BNP standing committee meeting also demanded that the prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG be reduced considering public sufferings.
BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Jamiruddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Selima Rahman and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku joined the virtual meeting chaired by party acting chairman Tarique Rahman.