Huda slates Khaleda's counsels

Dhaka, Nov 19 (bdnews24.com) — BNP vice-chairman Nazmul Huda has slammed his party chief Khaleda Zia's counsels for not seeking to stay a High Court order regarding her cantonment house. Huda also said he thought that calling a general strike on Nov 14, protesting Khaleda Zia's eviction, was a wrong decision. "It would have been better if that was called after Eid." Huda told bdnews24.com after a press briefing at his residence in the capital's Dhanmondi on Friday evening, "The counsels should have appealed for a stay order on the High Court order when filing a leave to appeal." The BNP vice chairman was referring to Khaleda's counsels seeking permission to challenge a High Court ruling that essentially ordered the party chief to vacate her house in Dhaka Cantonment. He blamed the lack of foresight on the part of Khaleda's lawyers. "They were all waiting for the hearing on Nov 29. The government has seized that opportunity to do what it needed to." Slating the hartal decision, the senior BNP leader said, "The sympathy that Khaleda Zia had earned faded partially due to the strike just ahead of Eid. The agitation that the government's cruelty had created, grew fainter." Regarding the tough anti-government movement that BNP leaders have hinted at, Huda said, "The demands will include resignation of the election commissioner and demarcation of the parliament constituencies." He claimed that in the last national polls, BNP had been defeated through an evil design that included vote rigging. "So we have to wage a movement towards the next election." bdnews24.com/sm/adk/ta/1639h