Democracy will be restored when Khaleda is freed from jail: Fakhrul

Describing Khaleda Zia as the symbol of democracy, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said democracy in the country will be restored when the BNP chairperson will be freed from jail.

“We are working to unite people alongside going for a legal battle and waging a strong movement to free Khaleda Zia from jail,” Fakhrul said while addressing a token hunger strike programme in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka this noon.

Criticising the government for increasing gas price, Fakhrul said the government has raised the gas tariff unfairly only to facilitate those ruling party leaders and businessmen who import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

“The only aim behind the gas price hike is to create a scope for making quick money by their people who import LNG,” he said.

The gas price is also means cementing corruption and collecting money from people to give subsidy to make up the high cost of importing LNG, he alleged.

On June 30, the government announced to raise the average gas price by 32.8 percent for the retail consumers in the country with effect from the first of July.

As per the new price hike, the household consumers having single burner will have to pay Tk 925 a month instead of the existing Tk 750 while the double burner users will have to pay Tk 975 instead of the existing Tk 800.

Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad, a pro-BNP body of professionals, arranged the three-hour token hunger strike from 9:00am to 12:00pm today demanding release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia form jail.

Accusing the government of establishing a reign of plundering, Fakhrul said ‘mega projects’ are being taken for ‘mega corruption’.

The country’s banking sector has been destroyed with widespread plundering while its economy is now on the verge of collapse, he said.

He also alleged that the government is destroying the country’s education and health sectors and all the democratic institutions one after another as it has no accountability to people.

The countrymen have been plunged into a suffocative situation and they want to get rid of the prevailing state, the BNP leader said.

At the end of the programme, pro-BNP professionals broke their token hunger strike by drinking water provided by Fakhrul.