Joint Secretary General of BNP Nazrul Islam Khan said his party will take punitive measurers against those who had plundered the government relief materials.

He was speaking at "Bangladesh Sanglap" at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital last night. The discussion was organised by the BBC Bangla Service.

He said the party high command has already sought explanations from the leaders whose names figure in the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) list of suspected corrupt people.

Welcoming the ongoing drive against corruption, Nazrul Islam Khan said, the BNP will not bear the responsibility for those who will be convicted of graft or criminal activities.

AL Advisory Council Member Abul Mal Abdul Muhith said his party will certainly act against its leaders if the allegations brought against them turn out to be true.

CM Shafi Sami, a former adviser to the caretaker government, and Syeda Rizwana Hasan, director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyer's Association (Bela), said the level of corruption will come down automatically if the political parties go all out against the intra-party corrupt elements.

Replying to a query, Sami said the government should keep its drive limited to netting the bigwigs. If the big names are brought to justice and meted out due punishment, no one else would dare to get involved in corruption, he observed.

Asked whether the failure of the two major political parties has led Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus to join politics, the speakers came up with varying views.

Muhith said there is no alternative but to admit that the politicians have failed while Nazrul Islam said there's "a strong hand behind Yunus joining politics".

Shafi Sami said his [Yunus'] getting into politics would make it easier for the honest ones to do the same.

About the ongoing eviction of slums and roadside shops disregarding a stay order from the High Court, the speakers were unanimous in describing those moves as against the law and the constitution.

They said the state should not render its citizens homeless, it should rather rehabilitate the homeless people.

BBC Bangla Service Producer Kamal Ahmed moderated the discussion.