BNP leaders call verdict politically motivated

Source: STAR file

Two BNP leaders have termed the 10-truck arms haul verdict “politically motivated” while Jamaat-e-Islami said it is part of government’s conspiracy “to eliminate patriotic political leaders” from the country.

Rejecting the verdict, Jamaat acting chief Maqbul Ahmed in a statement said his party’s Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami was awarded death penalty in the “staged-managed and false case” as part the government’s well-planning to kill him.  
Jamaat vowed to counter the government’s conspiracy legally and politically.
A special court in Chittagong today awarded death penalty to 14 including Jamaat chief and then industries minister Nizami and then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar for smuggling in 10 truckloads of firearms.
Talking to The Daily Star, BNP Vice-chairman Abdullah AL Noman in his reaction said it was the BNP-Jamaat government that recovered the arms had filed cases and arrested many involved in the incident.
“But the present government used the case to harass our leaders and the verdict was delivered accordingly,” said Noman.
While BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s adviser Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury said the government has politicised everything including the judiciary. “Therefore people have lack of confidence about the judgment in this sensitive case.”
Although the two Chittagong-based BNP leaders gave their reaction on the verdict, party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today told The Daily Star that he will come up with the party’s reaction later following consultation with the party chief.
Fakhrul who is now visiting Thakurgaon denied making any instant reaction to the verdict in sensational arms haul cases.
Speaking at a press briefing this afternoon at the party’s Nayapaltan central office, BNP Assistant Secretary General and Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary Mahbubuddin Khokon said he does not want to say anything on this verdict.