BNP demands immediate repeal of Digital Security Act

BNP standing committee has demanded immediate repeal of the Digital Security Act (DSA) and withdrawal of all cases filed under it as it thinks the ‘notorious law’ is the main obstruction to freedom of expression of the people of Bangladesh.

At a virtual meeting on Monday night BNP standing committee members alleged that the government is taking advantage of this law to snatch the freedom of expression of opposition leaders, activists, journalists and general people and using this regressive law as a tool to prolong the ‘fascist regime’.

The meeting also demanded release of Khadizatul Kubra, a student of Jagannath University, who has been suffering from kidney disease and languishing in jail for the past eight months in a DSA case, said a media released signed by party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

It also discussed the DSA case against Mohd Jahangir Alam, a special correspondent of news agency United News Bangladesh (UNB).

The meeting also demanded release of all who are now behind the bars in the cases filed under the repressive law.

Meanwhile, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan voiced concern about the Essential Services Bill 2023 which has recently been placed in parliament to make it a law soon.

During the meeting, the BNP standing committee members alleged that the government did not take opinion from the stakeholders over the law and as per the bill, if the government wants it can bring any industry, establishment, profession and service under this act and make strike in these organisations a punishable offence.

Snatching the right to strike in the 'Essential Services' Bill also takes away the right to collective bargaining, they said adding that this is also a clear violation of the government's international commitments and a tool to protect the oppression, deprivation and exploitation of employers by invalidating trade unions and movements.

BNP believes that the proposed law will not only undermine the interests and rights of the working people, it is against democracy, human rights and the constitutional right of the people to protest. BNP has strongly demanded the withdrawal of the 'Essential Services Bill 2023'.

BNP senior leaders Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salah Uddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku were present at the meeting.