PM comments anti-democratic: BNP

The BNP has described Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's comments on dialogue and elections as 'contrary to the spirit of democracy'.

“The language that the Awami League president used about dialogue and elections in yesterday’s (Thursday) press conference is devoid of democratic norms. It is the language of fascism," said BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at party chief's Gulshan office on Friday.

He said: “We believe the country has plunged into a deep political crisis. The prime minister doesn’t want to acknowledge it. That’s why she doesn’t want dialogues.”

“What she said or did not say is not important. The prime minister wants to avoid the truth that the people want a fair election. This is not democracy,” he added.

On Thursday's press conference at Ganabhaban on her recent visit to Italy, Hasina dismissed any possibility of dialogue with the BNP on the next parliamentary polls.

She dubbed the BNP as ‘killers’ and wondered why there were so many suggestions to sit for dialogue with them.

Fakhrul alleged that the prime minister convened the press conference at a time when the 20-Party Alliance organised a public rally in Nilphamari to deter live broadcast of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s speech.

The prime minister similarly called a press conference that coincided with another public rally of the alliance in Jamalpur on Sept 27, he further alleged.

The BNP leader trashed Hasina’s statement involving party founder Ziaur Rahman in the Aug 15 massacre, in which Bangladesh founding President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family were killed.

He said: “It’s proven truth that Awami League men led by party leader Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmad were involved in the Aug 15 incident.”