Online Desk  :  BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said despite the fall of autocratic Awami League government, there is no matter of satisfaction. “Conspiracies are still going on at home and abroad. The conspirators will attack the freedom-loving people of the country once they get any chance. So, we must get united to protect student and people’s victory,” he said while addressing a solidarity rally in front of the BNP’s Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka on Friday afternoon.

The BNP organised the rally in memory of those who became the victims of enforced disappearance during the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina government. Mirza Fakhrul called upon the interim government to provide allowances to the families of the victims of enforced disappearances. “Many of these families are so impoverished that they cannot afford to meet the expenses of their livelihoods. It’s the responsibility of the state to stand beside them.”

Referring to the crimes committed in the name of enforced disappearance, the BNP Secretary General said: “I have been in politics for a long time… I knew about being arrested, I knew about being killed, but I did not know about enforced disappearance. Awami League committed horrible crimes against humanity by introducing the trend of enforced disappearance,” he said.

He said the interim government signed the instrument of accession to a UN international convention aimed at preventing enforced disappearances on Thursday as a state party, but the ousted Sheikh Hasina-led government did not do so.

“In this context, I am calling upon the interim government to take the initiative to ensure investigation under the UN into the incidents of enforced disappearance committed by the Awami League government during its 15 years of rule,” he said.

BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said Sheikh Hasina was the mastermind of the enforced disappearance project. “Those who gave leadership for this project, extended their support and cooperation, they must be brought before justice. They must be tried at any cost.”

Another BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said, “The main villains of ‘Aynaghar’ were former IGP Benazir Ahmed and former Army officer Ziaul Ahsan. Some people who were involved in enforced disappearance have been removed from services. They are now roaming. They will have to be arrested and tried.”