The USA and Canada authorities have listed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as an undesignated tier-3 terrorist organisation.
They have also rejected asylum and permanent residency petitions of a number of BNP leaders and activists on this grounds.
In the USA, one Khalilur Rahman introducing himself to be involved in BNP politics sought permanent residency for himself and his wife and children.
However, a court has rejected the plea as BNP is a ‘terrorist organisation’.
In the immigration court rulings in New York, California, Texas and New Jersey, the applications of political asylum-seekers have been rejected as Homeland Security authorities have listed BNP as a tier-3 terrorist organisation.
Being affiliated with a terrorist organisation, BNP leaders and activists have lost their initial eligibility for political asylum. As a result, the petitioners with the identity of BNP have been imprisoned in different states.
It is reported that more than 80 Bangladeshis seeking asylum in the identity of BNP have been detained in El Paso Detention Center in Texas alone.
Scrutinising the judgments of the court, it can be seen that the Homeland Security authorities presented 16 reasons for considering BNP as a terrorist outfit.
The reason includes doing communal politics, making alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, persecution of minorities, creation of radicalism and violence and attempt to unseat a democratic government.
A tier-3 terrorist organisation is one which is not banned and whose constitution does not openly support terrorist activities or human right abuses but patronises terrorists and instigates violent programmes.
In 2015, BNP hired a law firm, LexisNexis, to remove its name from the US tier-3 terrorist list. But there was no positive response from the Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, Canadian courts have designated BNP as a terrorist organisation five times for inciting violence, using force and attempting to overthrow a democratic government.
This time, BNP hired Edelman & Co. Law Office and Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Law Firm as their lawyers at the cost of millions of dollars.
Although the Canadian court's verdict did not call BNP a banned terrorist organisation, it said that BNP leaders and activists are involved in terrorist activities, creating violence and anarchy and attempting to overthrow the democratic government. Therefore, BNP has been considered as a tier-three level or undesignated terrorist organissation.
BNP's appointed lawyer himself wrote that there are terrorists within BNP.
It is noted that several universities in the United States, including the University of California and Seton Hall University, have declared BNP as a tier-3 terrorist organisation in the syllabus of Immigration Law.
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