Staff Correspondent

Women have been humiliated and insulted most during the 16 years of rule of Sheikh Hasina, said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

He said the International Women's Day is being observed in Bangladesh such a time when the country's womenfolk are repressed and suppressed everywhere.

Rizvi was addressing a press conference at the party's central office at Nayapaltan in the city on Friday (March 8).

Referring to the skyrocketing prices of essentials in the market, he said though the sufferings of common people have mounted, the government's ministers are joking with people's miseries.

"A suffocating situation is now prevailing in the country. Prices of essentials have been going beyond people's purchasing power everyday. Even the price of dates has increased manifold," he said.

The BNP leader alleged that the dummy government has indulged in conspiracy to kill Khaleda Zia by not allowing her to go abroad for advanced treatment. Threats also have been made to kill her throwing from the Padma Bridge.

"Sheikh Hasina's main target is Khaleda Zia. Keeping Khaleda Zia under house arrest, Sheikh Hasina has not only confined a political leader, but also strangled the voice of Bangladesh," he said.

Rizvi said: "None is well in Bangladesh whether he or she exercises politics. A Nobel laureate has also not been spared by this government.

Fair investigation or trial of any single attack on minority community has not taken place in Bangladesh during the last 15 years. Even, the trial of any single incident of fire has taken place in the country. The bank looters have not been brought before justice though a Nobel laureate has been roaming on the courtyard seeking justice being implicated in trifle charges."