Govt trying to win US favour citing al-Qaeda issue: Fakhrul

The government is trying to win favour from the US banking on the issue of al-Qaeda threat, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged today.

“In a bid to get US favour, the government is telling the so-called threat of the al-Qaeda since the US and whole world rejected the January 5 election,” the BNP leader said at a press conference at the party headquarters in Nayapaltan of the capital.

The press conference was organised to reveal the party's reaction to allegation that the ruling Awami League lawmakers made in the parliament linking the BNP-led alliance with the recent audio message said to be from the global militant organisation.

The al-Qaeda threat of intifada (popular uprising) in Bangladesh was part of a conspiracy against the country and al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's message reflected statements of the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefajat-e Islam, the ruling party lawmakers alleged.

"When the foreign minister is not clear about the authenticity of the message, some ministers and leaders of the ruling party are linking it to the BNP. The claim is not only illogical and false but also funny," Fakhrul said while reacting on the allegation today.

If BNP has a link with the al-Qaeda threat, it would be linked to international community as it has been stating against the government’s misrule, he added.

An audiovisual message purported to be from the al-Qaeda chief has urged the Muslims in Bangladesh to wage an intifada to confront the “crusader onslaught against Islam”.

Posted in Jihadology.net, the message alleged thousands of people were being killed in the streets of Bangladesh for protesting the “collusion of the anti-Islam secular government with a bunch of transgressing secularists”.