Khaleda sees AL's internal conflict

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday condemned the killing of Narsingdi municipality mayor Lokman Hossain and demanded exemplary punishment of those involved in the crime.
She also demanded release of Narsingdi district BNP President Khairul Kabir Khokon, who has been arrested in connection with the killing.
“The government arrested Khairul Kabir Khokon as part of a conspiracy to shift the blame of their [ruling Awami League] internal conflict on BNP,” she said in a statement.
Khaleda mentioned that the unprecedented vandalism by the ruling party men in Narsingdi has put people's lives and property at stake.
Meanwhile, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of BNP, yesterday blamed “a conflict between a minister and mayor Lokman Hossain” for the latter's assassination.
“The mayor was killed due to his conflict with a minister over formation of a ruling party committee. Now while Narsingdi is burning, the government is surprisingly silent. They are only busy to implicate the opposition with the murder just to hide the fact,” Rizvi told a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan office.
He accused the government of hatching a plot against opposition leaders by implicating them with the incident of murder.
Demanding release of party leader Khairul Kabir Khokon, he said the government should arrest those who were behind the killing.
Though the protesters vandalised the Narsingdi district circuit house and set fire to an intercity train, the government did not take any step to control the situation, complained Rizvi adding, it is rather conspiring to divert public attention from the real killers.
A masked assailant shot mayor Lokman Hossain in a room at the district Awami League office on Sadar Road of Narsingdi town Tuesday night. He succumbed to his bullet wounds at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 10:30pm that night.
Police picked up BNP leader Khokon from his Khilgaon residence in the capital early Wednesday as a suspect in the murder of the mayor.
Meanwhile, a group of former student leaders, who are active in BNP politics, in a joint statement yesterday demanded release of Khokon, former general secretary of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu).
Mir Newaz Ali, Helen Zerin Khan, Mir Sarafat Ali, Saimun Begum, among others, signed the statement.