BNP gets desperate to grab power through terrorist acts: Quader

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said BNP has become desperate to grab the state power by resorting to terrorist acts again, capitalising on the ongoing global economic crisis caused by the Ukraine-Russia war.

"When the conscious people of the country have been demanding the punishment for brutal acts of arson terrorism carried by BNP-Jamaat, leaders of BNP are shamelessly conducting ridiculous efforts to refuse their past misdeeds," he said in a statement.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said the BNP-Jamaat has been recognised as a terrorist force internationally.

Due to the arson terrorism of BNP-Jamaat, he said, a Canadian Federal Court declared the BNP as a terrorist organisation.

The AL general secretary said the BNP leaders have forgotten their past misdeeds but the people of Bangladesh are yet to forget those.

Issuing a fresh warning that there is no chance of seizing the state power, without joining elections, through terrorism, anarchy and plots, he said, adding that as per the country's Constitution, any political party must assume power with people's mandate.

Quader said the country's people did not forget the arson terrorism carried out under the directives of the BNP top leaders.

While continuing the trial of top war criminals in 2013, Jamaat-BNP armed terrorists carried out a hellish killing through petrol bombs and arson across Bangladesh, he said.

To prevent the 2014 national elections, he said, such attacks were conducted in the name of so-called blockade programme announced by BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in 2015.

The AL general secretary said none, including schoolgoing children, transport workers, petty traders and law enforcement personnel, got spared from the menace of this terrorism.

At that time, over 150 people were killed in this terrorist activities conducted by BNP Jamaat men across the country, he said.

Quader said the news of the BNP-Jamaat terrorist acts were published in local and international media.

Top BNP leaders, including its chairperson Khaleda Zia, were giving instructions over phone to their leaders and activists to kill people indiscriminately, he said.

"Such a telephone conversation was also aired in media," he added.