BNP demands dissolution of parliament before polls

Senior Correspondent: BNP has demanded that the government take steps for holding the next general election under a non-party administration.

The party also claimed that the Prime Minister must resign and the parliament will have to be dissolved before the polls.

It called upon the government to release its chairperson Khaleda Zia and other leaders from jail and ensure an environment to hold the next general election in a free and fair manner.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the demands at a colourful rally brought out by its party men in the city on Tuesday afternoon, marking the 48th Independence Day.

Fakhrul urged his party colleagues to take a vow on the occasion of the Independence Day to be vocal for ‘restoring democracy, people’s all rights, including voting one’, and freeing Khaleda Zia from jail.

“The country’s people want peace, democracy and their rights to be restored. The government must free our leader (Khaleda) and all other political prisoners from jail,” Fakhrul told the rally.

Hundreds of leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies started gathering in front of its Nayapaltan central office and its adjacent areas with small processions since noon.

The BNP men took part in the rally towards Shantinagr from Nayapaltan, led by their central leaders, carrying the national flag, placards, banners, festoons and portraits of party top leaders amid huge presence of law enforcers.

They chanted various slogans seeking their party Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release.

The rally ended at Nayapaltan around one hour later after parading Kakrail and Shantinagar roads, creating traffic tailbacks in Motijheel, Fakirerpool, Bijoynagar, Kakrail, Shantinagr and Malibagh areas.


risingbd/Dhaka/March 27, 2018/Reza/AI