Next election will ensure justice for July mass killings: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today (9 November) said the upcoming general election will be an election to ensure justice for the July mass killings and to boycott the cronies of the genocide committed during the 1971 Liberation War. 

"The upcoming polls will be an election to ensure justice for the 5 August mass killings and to boycott the accomplices of the 1971 genocide," he remarked while speaking as chief guest at a meeting held at the Daulatpur Girls' High School ground in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila.

Fakhrul said the mass killings and the genocide took place in this country, one in 1971 and the other during the July Uprising in 2024. 

"Both are terrible crimes. The trial of those involved in the genocide, along with the dictator, in the 5 August mass uprising is going on. We hope we will get justice. Similarly, we will also boycott those who helped the occupying Pakistani forces in the 1971 genocide, in the next election," he said. 

He said one party is claiming that a referendum should be held before the election, but the BNP is saying that if a referendum is to be held, it can be held on election day. 

"We do not understand the referendum and charter. The people do not understand these. Some people from America and other places have imposed these on our shoulders. However, we, from the BNP, have said we have accepted those. We want changes, but the changes that we do not agree with will be decided through debate in an elected parliament."

He said people have not been able to vote for the last 15 years, and, therefore, this election is very important for the country's democracy. "Only through this election can we take the country to a stable state."

The BNP leader said farmers who have cultivated potatoes in the country are not getting fair prices and that they have also been subjected to harassment in keeping those in cold storage. 

Similarly, he said, the vegetable farmers in Thakurgaon are not getting fair prices for their crops. 

"If the BNP comes to power through the election, it is committed to ensuring that farmers get fair prices for all their crops," he said.

About the fertiliser crisis, the BNP secretary general said the interim government was not elected, so they do not understand the problems of farmers. 

"If there was an elected parliament, these problems would not have arisen. If the BNP is elected, it will give priority to solving all the problems of farmers. Farmers will get agricultural cards through which they will get agricultural inputs at fair prices. Mothers and sisters will get family cards through which they will get all essential commodities, including rice and pulses, at fair prices," he said.

Mentioning that this will possibly be the last election of his life, Fakhrul urged people to vote for the paddy sheaf.