People will not accept any foreign supremacy: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said people's aspirations for which they fought the war in 1971 against Pakistani army are now elusive due to Awami League's undemocratic rule.

Bangalee students, youth, farmers, labourers, and soldiers joined the Liberation War to build a democratic Bangladesh where people will have freedom of speech, people's government, and economic emancipation, but the dreams of 1971 are now elusive, said Fakhrul.

He said this at a rally of freedom fighters organised by BNP on the occasion of Independence Day in front of the party's Nayapaltan central office. Banners at the rally carried the slogan "Boycott Indian Products."

"The country's people will not accept any foreign supremacy. If any country thinks it will dominate over us, they should know that people of Bangladesh have never accepted this," said Fakhrul.

People did not accept such dominance during Mughal era, British era, or Pakistani era, and they will not accept it now, he added.

"We did not liberate Bangladesh by anyone's mercy. We believe that the current government, which has forcibly usurped power, will have to leave one day," he added.

"The movement against a fascist regime is not easy but we have been continuing it for 15 years," he said.

Twenty-two leaders and activists of BNP sacrificed their lives in the last two years, he claimed, adding that thousands of BNP leaders and activists have been imprisoned and have been living inhumane lives in jail.

It was Fakhrul's first public speech since his release from jail in late February after being detained for more than three months following his arrest on October 29 last year.