Khaleda questions Satkhira raid

BNP chief Khaleda Zia has demanded a halt to the joint forces’ operation in Satkhira district, claiming people there are being subjected to atrocities.

She also bashed the government for shutting down Daily Inqilab over the publication of a report on the operation.

Addressing a rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan on Monday afternoon, Khaleda doubted whether Bangladeshi forces alone were conducting the operation in an apparent attempt to lend credence to gossips that Indian forces joined the search.

“Nobody can say for sure if only joint forces were there in Satkhira operation. People have doubts (about it).”

The Jamaat-e-Islami, a part of the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance, unleashed violence in Satkhira after the International Crimes Tribunal delivered verdicts in the cases against party leaders Abdul Qader Molla and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi.

Around 20 leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League were killed in the violence.

Against the backdrop, the joint forces, comprising police, RAB and Border Guard Bangladesh, launched an operation on Dec 15 in which several Jamaat men were killed.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a rally in Satkhira on Monday said the operation would continue until the district “is free of terrorism”.

Khaleda said at the Suhrawardy Udyan rally: “Seeing the activities of the government, it doesn’t seem that the country’s independence and sovereignty are protected.”

She criticised the government for shutting Daily Inqilab over a report on the operation.

The newspaper, founded by alleged war criminal late Abdul Mannan, claimed in the report that Indian troops took part in the Satkhira operation.

Police lodged a case under the Information and Communication Technology Act in connection with the report and arrested its three journalists.

Khaleda said before Inqilab published the news, it had been broken on different websites including Facebook.

“The government should have clarified before if the news was true or false. The newspaper has been shut without proper clarification.”

She said the government earlier shut Amar Desh newspaper and Channel 1, Diganta TV and Islamic TV.