AL will be accused of crimes against humanity: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday alleged that Awami League will be accused of “crimes against humanity” for “resorting to killing and abduction”.
“According to UN charter, enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity. This government will be accused of crimes against humanity,” he came up with the remark after meeting family members of missing BNP leader Ilias Ali at the latter’s house in Dhaka.
Fakhrul said his party believes that trial will certainly take place some day for committing crimes against humanity.
“There is no democracy, no people’s representative in the country. When a people’s government will assume the office, trial of these crimes will certainly happen,” he said.
Fakhrul went to Ilias Ali’s house and talked to his wife Tahsina Rushdi Luna and their son.
The BNP leader said party’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman suggested that senior leaders go to the homes of missing people to show support. “On International Day of the Disappeared, I myself visited four families and our leaders are also visiting homes of other missing people. We regularly keep in touch with families of the missing. We try to share their pain and sorrows,” he said.
1,209 VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE IN 10 YEARS OF AL RULE: RIZVI
BNP yesterday claimed that around 1,209 people, including some senior leaders of the party, were victims of enforced disappearance in the last 10 years of Awami League’s rule.
“Since Awami League-led grand alliance assumed power in 2009, around 1,209 people were victims of enforced disappearance. Of them, 781 people were disappeared by members of the law enforcement agencies,” BNP Senior Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi claimed.
While addressing a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, Rizvi warned that people responsible for the disappearances will be tried through proper investigation.
The International Day of the Disappeared, also known as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, is observed on August 30 every year.
This day draws attention to the fate of individuals abducted or detained by agents of the state (or those acting with support of the state), and held in locations concealed from their relatives and legal representatives.
Claiming that the enforced disappearances violate fundamental human rights, Rizvi said that the ruling party has chosen the path of enforced disappearance to destroy the country’s hard-earned democracy.
The trend of disappearance started from 1972-1975 with a political motive, said Rizvi, also spokesperson of BNP, during the press conference.
“With a farsighted agenda of eliminating opposition parties and establishing, prolonging an authoritarian state and one-party rule in the country, the culture of enforced disappearance was initiated at that time,” Rizvi claimed.
The government is now making people disappear, so that they cannot be vocal against their misdeeds and repressive acts, the BNP leader alleged.
Holding the ruling Awami League responsible for the random disappearances and incidents of crossfire, Rizvi said such acts cannot happen without the direct involvement of the government.
Mass and social communication media are being flooded with the news of enforced disappearances and incidents of crossfire while the government is keeping mum in this regard, he added.
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