Staff Correspondent

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has alleged that a state-run intelligence agency is trying to float a 'King's Party'.

"What is the significance of the self-sacrifices of students and people if the state-run intelligence agencies determine who will be elected in an election," he asked while speaking at a discussion at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium at Segunbagicha in the capital on Thursday (December 26). Rajshahi University Nationalist Ex-Student Association (RUNESA) organised the discussion commemorating a bloody incident on Rajshahi University campus on December 22, 1984.

Rizvi alleged that members of the intelligence agencies are visiting various areas, urging people to contact specific persons. "But, they can't do it."

The BNP leader said people would not have made so many sacrifices if they knew it would happen.

He questioned the significance of fighting against Sheikh Hasina if such a situation returns where state intelligence agencies decide who will be elected and which political party will be formed.

He also said Sheikh Hasina used intelligence agencies to split the BNP for 16 or 17 years.

"We are now hearing again that intelligence agencies are working in various places to form a political party, to support someone. But the people of this country will not accept this," he warned.

He also said it could not be denied the self-sacrifices of many political parties including BNP against the draconian rules of Sheikh Hasina. "Now, people have also become suspicious about the minimum efforts of the interim government to break up the BNP," he said.

Rizvi said if the interim government acts like Moinuddin-Fakhruddin and repeats the same tactics as HM Ershad and Sheikh Hasina, people would view it as another attempt to establish fascism. "This cannot be allowed to happen."

Speaking at the programme, BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan called upon the leaders and workers of the party at all levels to remain united in the pursuit of real democracy.

"We have many achievements... now we must go to the people. We must be united in establishing democracy," he said.

The BNP leader also questioned how India, being a democratic nation, sheltered an autocrat like Sheikh Hasina? India has been spreading propaganda on Bangladesh in a planned way. India is trying to implement its policies in Bangladesh through Sheikh Hasina. Except India, all the countries have recognized Bangladesh government after fleeing of Sheikh Hasina.

Referring to the incident of fire inside the Bangladesh Secretariat, Rizvi claimed that a fire broke out at the secretariat after the government sought some important documents and files, raising a big question in people's minds.

He called for an investigation into the fire by impartial authorities at the highest level, as it occurred shortly after files and documents related to Sheikh Hasina and her associates were sought by the government. "It's creating suspicions in the public mind, as some documents were burned in the devastating secretariat fire."

The BNP leader said people are suspecting the motive of the fire incident as it occurred late at night, burning many documents.

"We are worried about various incidents happening around us. It's not a matter of personal fear, but a fear for the state. We have seen before that when there is a public protest against a secretary or minister, files mysteriously disappear or a fire breaks out inside the secretariat," he said.