Tarique directs BNP, affiliates to stay active on streets

Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairman Tarique Rahman on Sunday directed party leaders and activists, together with its three front and associate organisations, to remain active on the streets to thwart any “conspiracy”, party sources said.

The instruction came at a nearly two-hour meeting at the national parliament complex on Sunday with senior BNP leaders and the heads of its affiliated bodies.

Those present included Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, central leaders Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annee, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Syed Emran Saleh Prince and Abdus Salam. Conveners and member-secretaries of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Jubo Dal and Swechchhasebak Dal attended, along with leaders of the BNP’s Dhaka Metropolitan North and South units.

Meeting sources said Tarique asked the party and each wing to draw up separate action plans for activities across the country in December, the “month of victory”. The programmes, they said, are not intended as counter-measures against any specific party or group.

The sources said the party would not adopt tactics previously used by the Awami League, such as setting up neighbourhood-level patrols to obstruct BNP activities.

Planned activities include protest marches, processions, sit-ins and cultural events. The BNP and its three wings will announce their programmes separately, and pro-BNP professional organisations have also been asked to organise their own.

The decision comes amid what the sources described as manoeuvres by activities-banned Awami League leaders and activists. Sheikh Hasina, who sought shelter in India after her ouster in the July uprising, has announced plans to return to Bangladesh in December.

“Through these initiatives, the BNP’s top leadership aims to keep the party and its affiliated organisations organisationally active and energised,” a central BNP leader told the Daily Sun, requesting anonymity.

Asked about the meeting, Rizvi described it as routine. “We are simply planning our routine programmes marking the victory month,” he said.