Two leaders of the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP yesterday termed the killing of Jubo League leader Jahid Siddique Tarek in a “shootout” a “stage-managed drama.”
While minister without portfolio Suranjit Sengupta blamed the Rapid Action Battalion for staging the drama, BNP standing committee member ASM Hannan Shah said the government has done it to avoid the revelation of “important information.”
Two people including Tarek, joint secretary of the Dhaka city (south) unit Jubo League, were killed in a “shootout” between his cohorts and Rab on Wednesday night.
Early on Tuesday, Tarek allegedly shot dead Riazul Haque Khan Milky, organising secretary of the same unit of Jubo League, in the capital's Gulshan area.
UNB reports: Speaking at a discussion at the Institute of Diploma Engineers in the capital, Suranjit said AL does not support any extrajudicial killing.
The drama staged by Rab has claimed the lives of two people yesterday (Wednesday), he told the meeting organised by Nouka Samarthak Gosthi.
With the national election nearing, the opposition will spread propaganda against the ruling party cashing in on the extrajudicial killings, added the minister.
Suranjit feared that the killing of Jubo League leader Milky by his party men will incite people's hatred of the ruling party.
Those who lost their lives in Rab's “crossfire” had the right to get justice, he observed.
Meanwhile, BNP leader Hannan Shah said the government has staged the “drama of crossfire” in fear of the revelation of information about its high-ups.
Addressing a programme at the Jatiya Press Club, he asked the government why Tarek was being taken to Khilkhet instead of jail after his arrest.
“Questions have arisen in the minds of people whether it was an incident of crossfire or merely an act by them [government],” he noted.