BNP hobnobbers again ask Khaleda to sever ties with Jamaat-e-Islami

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has once again been advised to sever ties with anti-independence party Jamaat-e-Islami by people close to her party.

The call came from pro-BNP professionals Rafiq-ul Haque and Zafrullah Chowdhury on Thursday night in the wake of Khaleda’s call for a concerted anti-terror stand after the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks.

Several people who attended a meeting convened by Khaleda at her Gulshan office confirmed Rafiq and Zafrullah’s positions.

After the nearly two-hour-long meeting, senior lawyer Barrister Rafiq told reporters, “I told her (Khaleda) to leave Jamaat. Can’t say anything beyond this.”

Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder and trustee Zafrullah had recently made the same call.

After Thursday’s meeting, he said, “The Jamaat issue had cropped up. I said that the Jamaat has to beg forgiveness for the mistakes of their ancestors, for opposing the Liberation War and for committing the war crimes.”

Asked what the BNP supremo thought about the suggestion, he said, “I think even she thought that the demand was logical.”

Zafrullah also criticised the RAB for failing to detain the attackers alive and said that a judicial probe must be conducted in this regard.

He also criticised RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed for his ‘overexcitement’ and wondered why he did not go after the attackers inside the cafe in Gulshan on July 1 night.