Ruling coalition will be ‘on alert’ over Khaleda verdict

The ruling Awami League says it has no programmes for the day of the verdict on Khaleda Zia’s corruption trial but will be wide awake as the BNP is expected to burst into protests if she were to be convicted.

As judgment will coincide with the SSC examinations, the people are worried over the rising political heat, and the anxiety was clear in Jatiya Party Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader’s comments.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the opposition MP said, “The court will deliver a verdict and the people are somewhat worried.”

Though political situation would be volatile not for the first time in the country, he still urged the government to be active to save the people’s lives and properties if violence breaks out.

BNP supporters escorting Khaleda Zia's motorcade on her way back home after she attended a hearing at the Bakshibazar court on Thursday.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and top police officers already said they were watching out for efforts to create anarchy surrounding the verdict.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police have also decided to restrict movement of public transport on a street in the port city for two days to ensure security of state-owned oil refineries.

A special court in Dhaka is set to deliver the verdict in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda and five others on Thursday.

The accused face up to life term imprisonment and if convicted, the BNP chief will lose eligibility to run in the next general elections by the end of this year.

The BNP maintains Khaleda has been put on trial because the government wants to keep her and the party away from the elections, an allegation the ruling party denies, saying the courts are now independent of executive influence.

Tensions mounted when Khaleda’s supporters attacked the law enforcers and snatched away two BNP activists when she was travelling back home after attending the hearing of another graft case against her on Jan 30.

At a meeting on Saturday, Awami League Presidium Member Mohammed Nasim urged the party workers to be on the streets on the day of the verdict.

The following day, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said they were not announcing any programmes for the day.

He said they did not want to fuel the people’s concerns by announcing programmes.

Nasim, who is also the coordinator of the 14-party ruling coalition, then said the alliance was not announcing any programmes either.

“But the 14 parties will be on alert so that no quarter with any vested interest can create disorder,” he said after a meeting of the coalition leaders on Monday.

He also said their activists would be on the streets until the elections ‘to ensure that the country is run in line with the Constitution’.

Despite there being no programmes, leaders at different tiers of the ruling party are preparing to hit the streets on Feb 8.

Chittagong Metropolitan Awami League Vice-President Khorshed Alam Sujon told bdnews24.com they would gather at some 16 key points on that day to ‘stop the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami from unleashing violence’.

In the capital, Mayor Sayeed Khokon, a leader of city Awami League, said the city corporation councillors would be active in their areas to stop any possible violence.

“We are not interested in putting on an act. But it is our duty to ensure security of the people,” he said at a discussion on the role of public representatives at the Nagar Bhaban on Monday.

BNP leaders have been saying they will not ‘sit idly by’ if Khaleda is jailed on ‘false charges’.

The party’s Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy had threatened to topple the government to free Khaleda in case she was convicted ‘wrongly’.

 “Put Khaleda Zia in jail if you (government) wish. But if you think that we will cry, you are wrong,” Gayeshwar told a discussion on Jan 28, two days before being arrested in cases over the attack on the police.

“We will unseat you before freeing Khaleda Zia. Once the government is toppled, Khaleda Zia will be free,” he had added.

With tensions threatening to boil over into violence, Jatiya Party leader Howlader has urged the opposing sides to remain calm and respect the court’s judgment.

“We don’t want any unpleasant incident to take place. The people do not want it either,” he said after a meeting of the party’s presidium on Monday.