Govt instigated the attack on Reaz Rahman, alleges Khaleda

Khaleda Zia has condemned the attack on her advisor Reaz Rahman and alleged that it has taken place following instigation from the government leadership.

Miscreants shot him in the leg and waist, and set his car ablaze near Gulshan-2 intersection on Tuesday evening.

The attack took place when he was leaving after meeting the BNP chief at her Gulshan office amid the party's indefinite transport blockade.

Khaleda, in a statement released right after the incident, said, "The cowardly attack on Reaz Rahman was carried out near the police barricade when he was leaving after seeing me.

“I am angry and concerned. I have no words to condemn and protest this attack and murder attempt."

"Reaz Rahman has fallen victim to this attack right after some instigative remarks came from the top of the government," she said.

She apparently alluded to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's comments made at a rally in Dhaka on Monday.

Hasina had held the BNP-led 20-Party Alliance responsible for the violence and militancy and asked people to resist them.

Since Jan 5, when Khaleda called the nationwide indefinite blockade across Bangladesh, over 50 vehicles have been torched in the capital alone.

The Awami League and police claim the blockade supporters were behind the arson attacks, while the BNP blames the government for these ‘acts of sabotage’.

Khaleda in her statement also sounded a warning, saying that such attacks on the opposition would not protect the government in the end.

She also wished for Reaz Rahman's fast recovery.

The former foreign secretary, shot four times, is currently undergoing treatment at United Hospital at Gulshan.