AL points finger at BNP's Patal

Senior leaders of the main opposition blamed State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman Patal for masterminding the killing at a press briefing at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue office yesterday afternoon.

Demanding punishment to the killers, the AL also announced demonstrations -- one in Dhaka today and the other across the country tomorrow.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil read out a written statement where he presented some information that convinced them to point their finger at the state minister, who is the member of parliament (MP) from Lalpur, Natore.

Jalil recalled the killing of the AL's student front leader, Moazzem Haq, in early 2002 at Natore allegedly by BNP-backed criminals, who, he claimed, were patronised by Rahman.

The AL general secretary went on to claim that the murder case was withdrawn at the influence of Rahman and Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed made himself an enemy of those 'criminals' and their godfather by protesting it.

In support of his claim, Jalil presented newsmen with copies of petition made by the alleged criminals, appealing to the home minister to withdraw the case terming themselves workers of Rahman. And, the case was withdrawn subsequently, Jalil said meaningfully.

When contacted, Rahman refuted all the allegations and said, "It's the dirty trend of Awami League politics to blame someone who did not commit the crime. I haven't had any association with criminals in my whole political career."

He also advocated for judicial inquiry, if required. "Being the local MP, I will do whatever I can to help find the culprits."

The AL accusation followed a day after relatives of Mamtaz accused Rahman of the killing.

Advocate Abul Kalam Azad, also the organising secretary of the district AL, had alleged that BNP's hit men killed his brother at the instruction of their high command.

The AL general secretary meanwhile alleged that the BNP-led alliance government has so far withdrawn 53,405 cases on political consideration. "The way the government is releasing accused in various cases, it is putting the life of our leaders and workers under serious threat," he said.

Acting AL President Zillur Rahman, party chief Sheikh Hasina's Political Secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury, senior AL leaders including Tofail Ahmed, Sajeda Chowdhury, Matia Chowdhury, Kazi Zafrullah, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Kader, Bir Bahadur, Mahmudur Rahman Manna and Abdul Mannan were also present at the briefing.