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Published : 23 Jul 2025, 05:17 PM
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the chaos and protests that broke out following the deadly jet crash at Milestone School and College in Dhaka are rooted in “administrative failures and law and order problems”.
On Wednesday, Fakhrul said these issues were raised during a meeting with Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday night.
“We told him clearly -- these problems multiply when there is no political government,” said Fakhrul.
Confirming his party views the Air Force jet crash as a tragic accident and “nothing else”, Fakhrul noted that Tuesday’s student protests and the violent scenes at the Secretariat reflected deeper political dysfunction and a breakdown in governance.
According to him, the interim administration is mostly made up of “inexperienced individuals”, some of whom are driven by “ego”. Still, he claimed, the BNP continues to provide “full support” to the interim government in alignment with its previous commitment.
Tuesday’s demonstrations erupted in the wake of a deadly jet crash at Milestone School in Dhaka’s Diabari that killed 29, mostly schoolchildren, and has hospitalised another 69 with injuries.
Protesters, enraged by the deaths and the slow response to the rescheduling of Higher Secondary Certificate examinations in the disaster’s wake, blocked two top advisors - Law Advisor Asif Nazrul and Education Advisor CR Abrar - inside a building on the school’s campus for nearly nine hours.
Later that day, hundreds of HSC examinees stormed the Secretariat in protest, demanding the resignation of the education advisor over the delayed decision to defer exams. The demonstration spiralled into violent clashes with police.
In response, Yunus held a late-night meeting with leaders of the BNP, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the National Citizen Party (NCP), and the Islami Andolan Bangladesh.
He reportedly urged all parties to maintain unity and support the government. While the parties pledged continued support, they also demanded immediate improvements in law enforcement and governance.
“Whenever there’s a crisis, the chief advisor calls us -- and we heed his call,” Fakhrul said, hinting at his regular engagement with the interim leadership. “I believe if these consultations happened more frequently, perhaps such problems wouldn’t even arise.”
Shedding light on Tuesday’s meeting, Fakhrul said: “The problem arose mainly because two advisors and the press secretary were virtually trapped at Milestone, while at the Secretariat, exam-related complications led students to break in. It became clear to all that this was an administrative failure, and a serious law-and-order situation developed, as everyone saw.”
Speaking after a BNP meeting at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office, Fakhrul reiterated that the way forward lies in quickly returning to an elected political administration.
“The anti-fascist alliance remains intact,” Fakhrul stated. “Whatever the media says -- about political parties arguing, taking opposing stances, calling each other out -- that’s part of politics. These debates are normal. But our unity stands firm.”
