'For now, no confrontation'

The BNP will not go for any confrontation or movement right now even if it doesn't get permission for a rally to observe the January 5 as “Democracy Killing Day”, party insiders said.

Instead, the party has moved to prepare a “master plan” to reorganise itself, boost the morale of its leaders and activists ahead of the upcoming union parishad polls and lobby through diplomatic channels to put pressure on the government for holding an early election under a non-party administration. 

To make the plan a success, the party will play up the government's failure to hold a free and fair municipality polls, added sources.  

On BNP chief Khaleda Zia's instructions, three groups are working to lay out the “master plan,” a BNP central leader told The Daily Star last night.

The “diplomatic group” is led by BNP standing committee member Moyeen Khan, the “organisational group” by acting secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and the “think-tank group” by Khaleda's adviser Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury.

The BNP high-ups have instructed the party's central and divisional teams, which were formed to assist the mayoral candidates in the December 30 municipality polls, to start their activities centring on the union parishad elections likely to be held in the middle of this year, a BNP assistant publicity secretary said.

About BNP's plan on the second anniversary of January 5 “one-sided” election, Mirza Fakhrul at a briefing yesterday said the party would hold a rally at city's Suhrawardy Udyan on Tuesday to mark the day as “Democracy Killing Day”. Besides, he said, all the district units of the party would observe the day by holding discussions.

A BNP delegation yesterday visited the Dhaka Metropolitan Police office to know about the fate of its letter seeking permission for the rally.

“A DMP official told us that they would write us back soon after evaluating law and order and other issues centring the proposed rally,” Masud Ahmed Talukder, a member of the delegation, told The Daily Star.

“We have planned to stage a massive rally if the government gives us permission. We want to show the government that BNP still has huge popularity,” an organising secretary of BNP said.

If not allowed to stage the rally, the party may hold an indoor programme in the capital and demonstrations in different thana units in other parts of the country protesting the government's “undemocratic and autocratic attitude,” added the party insiders.  

Fakhrul in the briefing, however, said they hoped the authorities would help make the rally a success and uphold democracy.

The BNP last year planned to stage a “black-flag” rally in front of its Nayapaltan central office on January 5. However, it could not hold the programme as law enforcement agencies confined its chief Khaleda at her Gulshan office since January 3 and locked the Nayapaltan office.

On the future plan of BNP, a central leader of the party said, “Before the municipality polls, we actually had started from zero. Now we got back our strength and we want to make best use out of the situation to reorganise the party and force the government to hold an early election.”