14-party alliance refutes BNP allegation on counter-terrorism operations

The 14-party alliance led by the Awami League has rubbished BNP's allegation that the seven-day special operations against Islamist radicals were actually aimed at decimating the political opposition.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 10 June 2016, 05:37 PM
Updated : 10 June 2016, 05:38 PM

After a meeting of the ruling alliance in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League office at Dhanmondi on Friday, Workers Party chief Rashed Khan Menon said, “If the BNP is not harbouring militants and terrorists, they should have nothing to fear."
 
On Friday, Bangladesh police started a nationwide crackdown against Islamist radicals to curb and control the spate of attacks against secular elements, foreigners, religious minorities and even family members of police officers involved in counter-terrorism operations.
 

File Photo

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that the countrywide police offensive is actually aimed at decimating the opposition and intensifying the suppression against them.
At the end of the 14-party alliance meeting, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Menon rubbished the BNP allegations.
"The operations are aimed at neutralising the terrorists and fundamentalist radicals, they are not aimed at any political party," Menon said.
He said opposition activists were not the target of these operations. "If the BNP or any other party are not harbouring the terrorists, they should have nothing to fear."
Menon called on all secular forces to unite and carry forward the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War to develop a progressive, forward-looking Bangladesh.