Several BNP central leaders have reportedly gone into hiding, shunning party activities and even disconnecting their phones.
Multiple reports suggest that numerous central committee members, including BNP Vice Chairman Abdul Awal Mintu and Central Organizing Secretary Shama Obaid, have become unreachable and seemingly disappeared from public view. Sources within the party attribute this sudden disappearance to anxieties over potential arrest by the current Awami League government.
When contacted in this regard, BNP central committee member Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Iqbal said that the leaders are hiding due to litigation. Everyone will come out in time. The movement did not stop. We have announced new programs.
When asked how BNP will deal with this difficult situation, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon told Bangladesh Pratidin that BNP has gone through difficult times several times before. Especially after the death of Ziaur Rahman, during the dictatorship of Ershad, and during the One-Eleven. BNP is a completely worker and supporter based political party. And the supporters of BNP are the common people of this country.
He said that Awami League could not take anyone from the party except for one vice chairman despite many efforts. Organized dummy elections to illegally retain power. This will not save the end of the Awami League government.
According to BNP central office sources, out of 19 members of the party's highest policy-making forum, the National Standing Committee, only four are in jail. Among the leaders of the 502-member National Executive Committee and the 90-member Chairperson's Advisory Council, only 93 people have been arrested and are in jail. And the remaining 500 leaders have been hiding for almost two months to avoid arrest.
Barrister Rumin Farhana, one of the members of BNP's international affairs committee, told Bangladesh Pratidin that BNP's difficult times did not start suddenly today. It started 15 long years ago. In this, BNP has achieved two major successes. One, despite the government's efforts, BNP could not be broken. Two, all the big and small opposition parties of the country have been brought together under one umbrella.
Regarding the upcoming national elections, she said, January 7 is still far away. Don't see what happens. What has started within Awami League's own (party-nominated and rebel) candidates, whether the election takes place at all, will be understood on the 7th.
According to BNP office sources, the total members of BNP standing committee are 17 people except the chairperson and general secretary. Two of them are in jail. They are Mirza Abbas and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury. Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Chowdhury and Salahuddin Ahmed are outside the country.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed told Bangladesh Pratidin that more than 25,000 BNP leaders and workers have been unjustly arrested in this quarter of two months in complete disappearance and false cases.
(The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on December 24, 2023 and has been rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan)
