Don't play with fire: Quader warns BNP

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday warned any destructive programme, announced by the opposition parties including BNP, will be dealt with an iron hand on the streets.

"We are the old players of Rajpath (city streets). The BNP is new in this way. Let's face it on the street. There will be final," he said.

Quader made the remarks while talking to reporters after paying homage to Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, wife of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at her Banani grave here, marking her 92nd birth anniversary, BSS reports.

Asking the BNP not to play with fire, he said if they play with fire, its consequences will be dire.

The AL general secretary said Sheikh Mujib was able to become the Father of the Nation from Bangabandhu because he had found a noble woman like Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib beside him as an ally and fellow fighter.

If Bangabandhu did not find a woman having wisdom and patience like her, it would have been very hard for him to bring freedom to a nation, Quader said.

At first, he placed a wreath at Bangamata's grave on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Later, the AL general secretary, along with other senior leaders, paid respects at the mausoleum of Fazilatunnesa Mujib on behalf of the party.

After paying homage, one-minute silence was observed and a special munajat was offered seeking eternal peace of the departed souls of Bangamata and the martyrs of August 15 carnage, and the continued peace, progress and prosperity of the nation.

AL presidium members Dr Abdur Razzaque, Shajahan Khan, Abdur Rahman and AHM Khairuzzman Liton, its joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Dr Hasan Mahmud (also information and broadcasting minister) and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretaries Ahmad Hossain, BM Mozammel Haque, SM Kamal Hossain and Mirza Azam, liberation war affairs secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, publicity and publications secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap, labour affairs secretary Habibur Rahman Siraj, science and technology affairs secretary Abdus Sabur and central committee member Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin were, among others, present on the occasion.

Bangamata was born on August 8 in 1930 at Tungipara village in Gopalganj.

She was killed brutally along with Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on the fateful night of August 15 in 1975.