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Published : 22 Oct 2023, 12:15 AM
The BNP has chosen the street outside its headquarters in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan for its Oct 28 rally, which the party says will be the first in a series of non-stop programmes to unseat the Awami League government before the election.
The opposition party’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi informed police about the matter through a letter, Assistant Office Secretary Taiful Islam Tipu said on Saturday.
Faruk Hossain, a spokesman for Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they received the letter and a decision will be taken after discussion.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the rally in a demonstration organised in Naya Paltan last Wednesday.
The mass rally will kick off the BNP's 'grand' and non-stop journey towards the end of the Sheikh Hasina administration, Fakhrul said.
The BNP had earlier said it would pause its tough programmes for Durga Puja and hold fresh demonstrations after the festival.
The opposition party demands that the next parliamentary polls, expected in early January, be overseen by a caretaker government to ensure a free and fair election.
The party boycotted the election in 2014 and alleged vote rigging and intimidation during the 2018 polls, which were held under an Awami League government.
The Awami League has refused to step down before the election, arguing that such an unelected government will be unconstitutional, and would damage the country’s politics and development.
After the BNP had announced the Oct 28 rally, police and ruling party leaders warned the opposition party against violence.
“Police provide security at all rallies. But police will be stringent and step in if the organisers pose a risk to the 22.4 million people of Dhaka by opting for violence instead of a peaceful rally,” DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman said on Saturday.
The DMP commissioner said they were monitoring the whole situation and would take immediate action the moment police or intelligence agencies received any information.
“You may be aware that the offenders made a similar ill effort in 2013-2014 not only in Dhaka but across Bangladesh. The people in Bangladesh and the police resisted those criminals strongly and defeated them. We hope in future, people and police will work together to prevent such wrongdoings.”
The Awami League has been staging counter-protests in nearby venues during the BNP’s programmes for quite some time, but the ruling party has yet to call demonstrations for Oct 28.
