Dhaka: Senior joint secretary-general of BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir Saturday threw a challenge for an Awami League minister to prove their sweeping allegation that slain former president General Ziaur Rahman was a ‘spy’ of Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

He made the challenge in reply to a question at a press conference arranged at the BNP central office in the city to protest the filing of a raft of ‘false’ cases against party leader and former state minister for education Ehsanul Haque Milon as well as other leaders.
 
“It’s a flagrant falsehood,” the BNP leader said to refute the comment against their party founder, Zia, by State Minister for Law Advocate Quamrul Islam.

Making an unsparing criticism of the Awami League government’s various activities that he called repressive, Mirza Fakhrul alleged that the rulers are violating human rights.

In reply to another question about the BNP-called dawn-to-dusk hartal for June 27, he insisted the general strike has been called in keeping with “people’s interest”.

MM/AK/MUA
BDST: 1210 Hrs, 22 May 2010