AL govt responsible for US visa restriction on Bangladeshis: Fakhrul

Desk News :: Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday blamed the Awami League government for the US visa restriction on Bangladeshi individuals and said that is was not a matter of joy, rather a shame.

‘In this visa policy, our journalists will also be included…Why this nation has to go through this? We are in a very terrible situation. There are so many people who are very happy. It’s not matter of joy, it’s a shame,’ he said.

The BNP secretary general made the remarks while addressing a discussion meeting at the Abdus Salam Hall of the Jatiya Press Club on the occasion of the 7th death anniversary of the late brigadier general Asm Hannan Shah.

Fakhrul said, ‘We are in a terrible situation, the state of the country is horrible. If we do not get out of that situation, the existence of the entire nation will be in danger,’ he said.

Today, this danger, this crisis is not only for BNP, this crisis is for the entire nation, Mirza Fakhrul said.

He said, ‘Everything depends on the next few days–whether we will remain independent in the future, whether we will have independence, whether we will have sovereignty, whether my country will become a vassal state, whether I will have democratic rights or whether I can elect my representative as per my choice’

‘People have made a decision. People want free and fair elections under a neutral government with the participation of all parties. They don’t want any alternative to these,’ he added.

Fakhrul said, ‘We are fulfilling our responsibility as a political party. We have been on the streets for almost a year, in which 22 of our young leaders have been killed by police on the streets, we have had numerous cases, we have been jailed many times. Even then they could never suppress us, they will not be able to.’

‘Many of our intellectuals don’t come to television talk shows anymore. What’s the reason? They are threatened that if you go and speak against the government, you will be in danger…..We live in this state,’ he said.

Presided over by Gazipur district BNP president Fazlul Haque Milon and moderated by member secretary Mujibur Rahman, the discussion was addressed, among others, by BNP vice-chairman Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, joint secretary general Khairul Kabir Khokon, liberation war affairs secretary Joynal Abedin, assistant organizing secretary Benazir Ahmed Titu and labour affairs assistant secretary Humayun Kabir Khan.