No autocrat could remain in power thru repression: Moin Khan

No autocrat could remain in power through anarchy and repression, and neither will the Awami League government hold on to power, Moin Khan, Standing Committee Member of the BNP, has said.

"Ziaur Rahman had restored democracy and voting rights to the people of this country. But the Awami League has destroyed the country's democracy and all the country's institutions time and again," he said at a brief rally in front of the BNP's Nayapaltan central office marking the party's 45th founding anniversary yesterday. 

In response to outgoing Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique's call to keep the judiciary free from politics, another BNP Standing Committee Member, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, questioned the timing of such principles being advocated as one departs from office.

"Did he [chief justice] forget this principle when he first assumed office and only remembered it as he was leaving? All injustices will be subjected to trial," said Khasru while addressing the rally.

A large number of leaders and activists of the BNP and its associated bodies gathered in Nayapaltan after Jumma prayers to join a procession celebrating the founding anniversary of the party. They were chanting slogans and carrying festoons and banners.

The procession started from Nayapaltan and concluded at Rajdhani Market after passing through Fakirapool intersection, Notre Dame College, Shapla Chattar and Ittefaq intersection, said the party.

Due to the BNP procession, along with a Chhatra League rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, traffic was severely disrupted in the Nayapaltan, Fakirapool, Nightingale intersection, Kakrail and Shahbagh-Matsya Bhaban areas. Roadblocks were reported in some places. 

A large presence of law enforcers, including police, was observed to avert any untoward incident centring on the two events of the two opposing organisations on the same day in the capital.

Earlier in the day, BNP leaders and activists, including the party's policymakers, paid their respects at the grave of the party founder and late president Ziaur Rahman in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in separate messages, congratulated the people of the country, party leaders, workers, activists and well-wishers on the occasion.