Forget differences, unite against govt: Khaleda

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has called on activists of her party-led 20-Party Alliance to unite against the ‘tyrant’ government.

"The people want to break free from the clasp of this tyrant government," she told an Iftar programme organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Top leaders of the BNP-led alliance joined the evening event.

Jamaat's acting chief Mojibur Rahman claimed the convicted war criminals of his party were innocent.

Six of the 10 convicted war criminals are current and former leaders of Jamaat.

Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla is the first war crimes convict whose sentence was carried out.

Khaleda again said the BNP would announce fresh agitation programmes after the Eid-ul-Fitr.

She asked all the parties to forget differences and unite to save the country.

The BNP chief exchanged greetings with the alliance leaders before Iftar.

In her speech, she claimed the Awami League-led government came to power through "voter-less" Jan 5 polls.

The BNP and its allies boycotted the polls demanding a non-party government's supervision in the general elections ensuring a landslide for the ruling Awami League-led coalition.

The then Awami League-led government stuck to its stand of holding elections under it as the caretaker provision was scrapped through the 15th Constitutional Amendment.

Led by the BNP, the opposition alliance has since been pressing for its caretaker government demand and early polls.

"The government cannot cling to power using police and RAB," said Khaleda.

"We don't want anything undemocratic and unjust.

"All we want is the establishment of a democratic government through a democratic process," the BNP chief said calling for early elections.