Alliance draws up plan to counter AL

Top leaders of the alliance at a lengthy meeting chaired by BNP Chairperson and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday decided to form coordination committees at districts to carry out the plans. They authorised BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan to initiate the process immediately, meeting sources said.

The meeting also asked components of the alliance to go for countrywide organisational programmes.

"Leaders of the alliance are fully convinced that the Awami League has conspired to create instability in the country in the name of street protest, affecting law and order," a top alliance leader told The Daily Star after the meeting.

The alliance decided to hold a 'grand public meeting' at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka on October 8 as a show of its strength and also to mark completion of two years of the present government.

Held at the Prime Minister's Office, the two-hour meeting also reviewed performance of the government in the past two years, law and order, rise of Islamic militants and price hike of essentials.

Meeting sources said law and order dominated the discussion as many of the leaders expressed dissatisfaction over growing incidents of crime like abduction, killing and extortion.

They pointed out that the main election commitment of the alliance was to combat crimes and improve law and order but the situation is yet to improve significantly.

Abductions and political killings have increased in many areas of the country, particularly in greater Chittagong and southern region, they mentioned.

Khaleda said the government is working seriously to check crimes and has achieved considerable success. She however admitted crimes in some specific areas are still to be checked and assured them that the situation would be brought under control at any cost.

Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) leaders referred to the current drive against Islamic militants and said the law enforcers are apparently doing excesses in the name of tackling them.

They said there are no such extremist or militant groups in Bangladesh but police are indiscriminately arresting Madrassah people.

Jamaat-e- Islami leaders also expressed similar views and said Jamaat is not behind the so-called extremists and it strongly opposes such militant activities.

Leaders of both parties sought the PM's intervention to ensure that police do not harass innocent people in the name of fighting Islamic militants.

The alliance leaders asked the government to take adequate steps to keep essential prices within the buying capacity of the public in the coming Ramadan.

The issue of inclusion of the IOJ and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) in the cabinet was also raised at the meeting by a BJP leader. He termed the present government a two-party government.

Khaleda however was quoted as saying, "Non-inclusion of two components of the alliance in the cabinet does not mean it is not a four-party government."

The meeting was attended by Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Shamsul Islam of the BNP, Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, IOJ Chairman Azizul Haq and splinter faction chief Fazlul Haq Amini, BJP Chairman Naziur Rahman Manjur and Secretary General Kazi Firoz Rashid.