Tough agitation if Hasina not freed before Eid

Acting Awami League (AL) President Zillur Rahman yesterday said his party would go for a tough movement after Eid-ul-Fitr if party President Sheikh Hasina is not released permanently before the Eid.
"The government must release our leader permanently before the Eid. Otherwise, we shall have no option but to go for a tough movement," Zillur told reporters after a meeting with Phulbaria Municipality Mayor Golam Kibria at his Gulshan residence.
Later, at a discussion at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium Zillur said a deep-rooted conspiracy is being hatched in the country to foil the next parliamentary election.
The discussion organised by Tungipara Association in Dhaka was chaired by former chairman of Bangladesh Red Crescent Sheikh Kabir Hossain.
"Conspiracies are being hatched in the name of holding the upazila parishad elections. The government is trying to create an anarchic situation in the country before the national polls. If it can hold polls to 300 upazilas, what is the problem in holding the national elections first," he asked.
"The Hawa Bhaban Hero (Tarique Rahman) and his mother Khaleda Zia are now free. But Sheikh Hasina is yet to be released permanently," he said.
Zillur asked the government to lift the state of emergency completely and announce a specific date for parliamentary elections.
Referring to newspaper reports, AL acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said conspiracy is being hatched centring the national elections.
Statements have been made at both national and international levels to delay the parliamentary polls, he said adding that if the national polls are delayed somehow, there might not be any election in the country.
He urged people to remain united against all attempts to foil the national elections.
AL presidium members Suranjit Sengupta, Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed and former president of Dhaka University Teachers' Association (DUTA) Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, among others, spoke.