Not enough

Opposition activists have to do much more than just vandalising one or two vehicles on the street to have the BNP-led alliance’s demands met, acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said yesterday.
“Many of our leaders, including the JCD general secretary, are in jail. The party activists cannot stay home at this time. They must take to the streets in their thousands,” Fakhrul said at a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal organised the discussion to mark the 49th birthday of BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman.
With this statement, the BNP spokesperson apparently acknowledged that opposition leaders and activists were engaged in vandalising vehicles and street violence during the BNP-led alliance’s anti-government agitation.
Earlier, Fakhrul claimed several times that no opposition leaders or activists were involved in vandalism or any criminal activities during the opposition’s programmes.
He pinned the blame on the government, and said its agents were committing the crimes to taint the 18-party combine’s image.
At least 20 people were killed in street violence during the opposition’s shutdowns between October 27 and November 13, according to reports of The Daily Star.
On November 4, 14-year-old Monir was burnt inside his father’s covered van after pro-hartal pickets set alight the vehicle on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.
The boy lost his battle for life three days later at Dhaka Medial College Hospital.
The BNP-led alliance has been staging agitation for the formation of a non-party government to oversee the next parliamentary polls.
Hartal has been enforced for 48 days so far this year and almost all the shutdowns were called under the banner of the 18-party combine or BNP’s key ally Jamaat-e-Islami over different demands.
Commenting on the present cabinet, Fakhrul yesterday said it’s not a polls-time government, rather a “restructuring of the cabinet of the Awami League-led grand alliance”.
“In the current cabinet, there are no representatives of any parties other than the components of the grand alliance. It cannot be an all-party government,” said Fakhrul.