BNP on Sunday alleged that the Digital Security Act (DSA) is being used against opposition leaders and activists and dissidents as a tool of repression.
"The Digital Security Act is a repressive law. If anyone belonging to opposition or any dissenter files a case under the act in the morning, it will be dismissed by the court in the afternoon," said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Speaking at a doa-mahfil-cum discussion meeting, he also said when any Awami League leader files a case against a BNP leader under the DSA, the legal process continues smoothly from the very beginning. "That BNP leader will be arrested by police and sent to jail by the court."
Rizvi also said if the BNP leaders are sent to jail under the DSA case they will be granted bail after a long time. "This is how the Digital Security Act has been applied in the country."
Jatiyatabadi Online Activists arranged the programme on the ground floor of BNP's Nayapaltan central office seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of their late colleagues, including MM Obaidur Rahman, Kamarul Hasan Shaheen, Tanima Soma and Shant Islam.
Describing the current situation in the country as "terribly suffocating", Rizvi said, "We live in a society where there is no freedom of speech. We have to always carefully look left and right all the time to see whether anyone is following us."
He alleged that the government has been dangerously 'repressing' the online activists and freethinkers using different 'terrible and despicable' laws, reports UNB.
The BNP leader said the online activists have been encouraging the nation through their activities against the current 'fascists' regime.
Referring to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent comment that the year 2022 will be a milestone in Bangladesh's infrastructure development, the BNP leader said people will be deceived and despoiled further in the name of development.
He said masters' degree holders now apply for a post of peon for lack of job opportunity in the country. "This is the development of Sheikh Hasina."