The inspector general of police’s recent remarks will harm the country and leave the government embarrassed and fearful rather than reassured, BNP acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Tuesday.
Rizvi, who is also the prime minister’s political adviser, spoke at midday on Tuesday (27 October) in front of the BNP’s central office in Naya Paltan, Dhaka, as he opened a free medical service run by the Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal to mark the youth wing’s 48th founding anniversary.
“There are many honest and capable officers in the police force,” Rizvi said. If they are allowed to enforce the law neutrally and independently, crime can be driven out of society, he said.
But statements made from a position of responsibility to win cheap applause or claim credit will harm the country and put the government in an awkward position, he said.
Outlining the social and development plans of BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, Rizvi said the party’s aim was to train young people and bring them into the country’s production and development work. In rebuilding the nation, he said, young people should be made key partners rather than part of the disorder.
Referring to Tarique Rahman’s plan for a “humane Bangladesh”, he said initiatives such as the family card and the farmer card had been taken to secure social protection for marginal farmers and poor people. He cited research by economists suggesting that poverty would fall if these programmes were carried out. He also spoke of a plan for large-scale tree planting to protect the environment.
On the BNP’s political ideals, Rizvi said the party believed in multiparty democracy, free thought and press freedom. He claimed that under Ziaur Rahman, the Awami League and other parties had been allowed to return to politics and press freedom had been restored.
Praising the Jubo Dal’s anniversary programme, he said he hoped its leaders and activists would set an example through blood donation, humanitarian service, tree planting and productive work.
BNP joint secretary general Advocate Abdus Salam Azad, Jubo Dal president Abdul Monayem Munna, general secretary Nurul Islam Nayan and central and city leaders were present.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report