SYLHET, Bangladesh — Prime Minister and BNP chairman Tarique Rahman said Saturday that police can no longer detain people simply for speaking their minds, calling for an end to crackdowns on free expression.
“It cannot continue that police will come and pick someone up just because they spoke,” Rahman said. People who have problems must be able to raise them, he said. Enough is enough, crackdowns on free expression cannot be allowed to continue, and people must have freedom, he said.
Rahman made the remarks Saturday evening at a meeting with party activists at the Sylhet Shilpakala Academy.
“Someone says something and the police come and take them away. No, the people don’t want this,” he said. If anyone commits an offense, action will be taken against them under the law, but that is a different matter, he said.
The large crowds on the streets are not all BNP supporters, Rahman said. They have come out because they believe the BNP is on the right path, he said. To retain that support, the party will have to work hard and show flexibility.
The prime minister told activists not to act as if they were members of the ruling party. Once that mindset takes hold, everything will be ruined, he said.
Local government elections are coming, Rahman said. Each constituency must have a single candidate. Before that, the organization has to be strengthened, he said.
Activists must take care that the public is not unhappy with their conduct, the prime minister said. He also directed everyone to follow party discipline.
The meeting was chaired by Sylhet City BNP acting president Rezaul Hasan Koyes Lodi. District BNP general secretary Imran Ahmad Chowdhury and city BNP general secretary Emdad Hossain Chowdhury moderated. District BNP president and city corporation administrator Abdul Kaiyum Chowdhury also spoke.
Others present included Industry and Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, Labor and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury, State Minister for Water Resources Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, the prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser Humayun Kabir, BNP divisional organizing secretary and parliamentary whip G.K. Gous, joint organizing secretaries Kalim Uddin Milon and Miftah Siddiqui, members of parliament from Sylhet, and leaders of the Sylhet district and city BNP.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report