BNP started crossfire, abduction, murder: Information Minister

BNP was born out of a politics of killings and did start crossfires, abductions and murders, said Information Minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud on Saturday.

The minister said this to journalists, responding to a comment by BNP's Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi that the state now turned inhuman through crossfires, abductions and murders.

Hasan Mahmud claimed more than 317 people were killed in crossfires and abductions every year during the BNP tenure while the number was 187 during the tenure of ruling Awami League.

The minister, however, added that criminals sometimes engaged in gunfights and Awami League never supported any kind of extrajudicial killing.

"Ziaur Rahman killed thousands of army personnel to keep his power safe and he was associated with the assassination of Bangabandhu," Hasan Mahmud said.

"It becomes ridiculous when the party which started the politics of abduction and murder in the country say such things," he added.

The example set by Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina by sheltering 11 lakh Rohingyas and the way in which the state has extended a helping hand to the working people of the country in the coronavirus epidemic is an absolute example of humanity before the world, he said.

He said, "The BNP has not been able to set such an example. Instead, after the deaths of millions of people in the 1991 cyclone, Begum Khaleda Zia said in parliament 'deaths are not as many as were supposed to be'."

"According to analysts, the death toll among those affected by coronavirus in the country is 1.28 percent," he said.