The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday demanded withdrawal of the case filed against the students agitating for quota system reform in government jobs.
鈥楢 case has been filed against the agitators to harass them. This case should be withdrawn,鈥� BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said at a press conference at its chairperson鈥檚 Gulshan office.
Earlier on Friday, the police filed a case against unidentified quota protesters聽 for vandalising police cars and assaulting police personnel during their blockade programme on Thursday at the Shahbagh crossing in the capital.
At a press conference held following a liaison committee meeting between the BNP and Gono Odhikar Parshad leaders, Khasru condemned the Awami League saying that the ruling party took hold of the job system and recruitments were made based on party affiliation for which question papers were leaked and quota system was used.
The Awami League stood against the quota movement because it had an advantage, he said, adding that the ruling party did it because it controlled the job system by using question paper leaks and quota system.
He also condemned saying that the government was attacking the fair and peaceful student movement demanding quota reform.
The reputation of public institutions was at stake now as reports were coming out about corruption by officials in every department, he said.
Party standing committee member Mirza Abbas, meanwhile, told reporters at the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman on the day that the government was making an evil attempt to divert the anti-quota student movement in a different direction by involving the BNP with it.
鈥榃e don鈥檛 think it is necessary to cover up the real issue [quota reform] by saying that the BNP is with this movement. It鈥檚 one of their [the government鈥檚] evil strategies to divert the movement in a different direction,鈥� he said.
While the BNP leader said that the demands of the students involved in the quota reform movement were valid, he also expressed doubt whether the movement was a creation of the government itself as part of its conspiracy against the country and its people.
The BNP was afraid that the government might be involved in misdeeds harming the country鈥檚 interest and hatching a conspiracy plot against the country by creating a student movement, Abbas said.
Bringing down the Awami League government is the main challenge for the BNP at the moment, the BNP leader stated.
鈥業f this government remains in power, Bangladesh will lose its independence and sovereignty. The country must be saved from this brutal regime,鈥� he iterated.
