BNP gives new figure - 272
The BNP yesterday named 272 opposition men who it claimed were either killed or forcibly disappeared by law enforcement agencies and Awami League men in the 14 months since January last year.
The number is 38 fewer than what the party had claimed just nine days ago.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the new figures at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan headquarters.
He said a total of 247 men were killed and 25 were subjected to forced disappearances. The victims were leaders and activists of the BNP-led 19-party alliance.
Besides, 38 more opposition men were killed and forcibly disappeared before January 2013, added Fakhrul.
At the press meet, a list with the names, addresses, photographs and political identities of almost all the victims was distributed among reporters on CDs and in hard copies.
This was for the first time the BNP came up with any details of the victims.
Speaking at a programme at the Jatiya Press Club on April 28, Fakhrul claimed that 310 opposition men were killed by Rab, police and AL cadres during the one-month period.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in February had claimed that 302 opposition men were killed and forced to disappear in 34 districts between December 26, 2013 and January 27, 2014.
Verifying the claim independently, The Daily Star found that 17 opposition activists were killed in nine districts in political violence during the period.
Earlier, this newspaper on several occasions had requested the BNP to provide it with the list of the victims. On March 19, this correspondent formally wrote to BNP Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed seeking the list.
The BNP leader assured him that the list would be supplied to the newspaper once the upazila elections were over in March.
ANOMALIES IN LIST
Fakhrul yesterday said there might be some anomalies in the list as collecting all the information related to the victims from across the country had been a tough task.
The information was collected through “field survey” by the BNP men, he added.
The list identified victim Hossain Ali as an opposition student leader in Satkhira. But Hossain's brother Hazrat Ali yesterday told this correspondent that his 14-year-old brother was not involved in any politics.
BNP BRIEFS DIPLOMATS
A BNP delegation, led by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, yesterday exchanged views with foreign diplomats in Dhaka on the country's latest political situation at a restaurant in the capital's Gulshan.
Meeting sources said the BNP expressed concern about the present law and order and told the diplomats that there was no rule of law in the country.
At the meeting, the BNP provided the diplomats with CDs containing the list of victims.
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