BNP on Sunday threatened to continue its ongoing blockade and strike programme for an indefinite period if the authorities do not restore telephone, cable and Internet services to party chief Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office in the capital city.
“Internet, telephone, cable connections have not yet been restored. Uninterrupted shutdown and blockade would be continued if these are not reinstated immediately,” BNP’s joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed said in a statement on Sunday evening.
The party came up with the decision, a day after the suspension of power, Internet, phones and cable connections to Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office where she has been staying since January 3.
Ahmed, remaining in the hideout, alleged that Sheikh Hasina is leading the country according to her wish instead of democracy.
“The politicised law enforcers were given the license to kill the protesters and prime minister took the responsibility. Despite concerns of all the developed countries including the rights bodies and United Nations Human Rights Commission, United States, United Kingdom and EU, the government has been killing the opposition leaders and activists in a whole sale manner.”
The BNP leader alleged that government’s agents have been killing people through petrol bombs and shouldering the responsibility to the BNP-led 20-party alliance to stigmatised the people’s logical ongoing movement.
“They (AL) turned burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) as the publicity centre of Awami League.”
He said his party condemned the petrol bomb attack and demanded arrest and trial of the attackers and at the same time also condemned for blaming the opposition leaders and activists for those incidents.
The authorities disconnected the power supply and snapped all kinds of voice and data connections to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan political office early Saturday where Khaleda is staying since January 3.
Twenty hours after disconnecting power supply, the authorities restored electricity to Khaleda’s office around 10:30pm on Saturday.
However, all kinds of voice and data connections to the office remained snapped until filing of this report around 7:30pm.
The blockade, which enters day 27 on Sunday, and the associated unrest have so far left at least 40 people dead, hundreds injured and nearly a thousand vehicles firebombed or damaged.
After the arrest of BNP’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Saturday, another Joint Secretary Salahuddin Ahmed came into the scene and issued the press releases alleging the incumbent government.
