Only Plan Is To Hold Peaceful Rally On Oct 28, Not Occupy Streets: Fakhrul

Brushing aside the ruling party leaders' comments and all speculations, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said their party has only one plan -- to hold the October 28 grand rally peacefully in Dhaka, not to occupy the streets.

"It's [sitting on the streets] completely untrue and propaganda. We didn't ask our leaders and workers to come to Dhaka and sit on the streets. Rather, we told them that after the programme on the 28th, everyone would go back to their respective places and they would wait for the next programme," he said.

Speaking at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office, the BNP leader also said their party would not announce any programme for which their leaders and activists will have to stay in Dhaka.

"Our rally on October 28 will be held completely in a peaceful manner. We can assure you that our grand rally will be concluded very peacefully as we did earlier. We'll take necessary steps in this regard," he said.

Fakhrul urged the police administration not to create any obstacles anywhere "unnecessarily" centring the rally, and not to snatch the opposition's democratic rights.

He said they have informed the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) that they want to hold the rally in front of their Nayapaltan party office and it is now the responsibility of the police authorities to ensure necessary security for the programme.

The BNP leader hoped that leaders and activists of the BNP would be able to come to the rally from across the country without any obstacles and raise their voices in favour of their demand.

He also called upon law enforcers not to create any barrier to the opposition's peaceful movement demanding a free, fair and credible election. "If you do that, it will be considered taking a position against a free and fair election. So, we believe you will keep it in mind and cooperate with us," the BNP leader said.

Fakhrul said their party has been observing peaceful programmers but the law enforcers have continued filing "false" and "ghost" cases against the opposition leaders and activists.

He said nothing happened before and after BNP's rally at Nayapaltan on Thursday, but "false" and "fictitious" cases have been filed against the party leaders and workers.

"The most shocking thing is that the officials of the law enforcement agencies are threatening to tackle with iron hands if anything happens. If so, then you must take action against those who are filing false cases unlawfully and file cases against the ruling party as the prime minister herself issued threats yesterday [Saturday] and Obaidul Quader did it before saying [the opposition's] hands will be broken," the BNP leader said.

Fakhrul said the law enforcers have been working with the government to eliminate the opposition, instead of taking action against the ruling party's unlawful activities._UNB