AL wants to use DSA to win nat’l polls

The Awami League wants to overcome the hurdle of national election using the Digital Security Act, the BNP said yesterday.

"This government is not an elected one. As the election is nearing, the government is using the Digital Security Act to gag voices of dissent. They [the ruling party] want to win keeping their opponents completely out of the election," said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Addressing a seminar titled "Digital Security Act, democracy and constitutional scheme" organised by the party at a city hotel, he demanded repeal of all "black laws" and the DSA.

Fakhrul said that the main goal of the government now is gagging the people and the DSA is the tool to do that.

"The only way is to oust the government. There is no alternative to it," he said.

BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the DSA is contradictory to the constitution, democracy, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He said that the UN human rights commission chief asked the government to suspend the DSA and the people of the country also want its repeal.

Presenting the keynote paper, BNP Human Rights Affairs Secretary Asaduzzaman Asad said the DSA is being used for suppressing critics and political opponents, and this affects not only the fundamental rights of the people, but also the democratic fabric of the country.

Ruhul Amin Gazi, former president of a faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), said the basic rights of citizens have been taken away with the DSA.

Sonia Akhter Smriti, a member of Rajbari district Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal, said, "As I spoke against the government, a case under the ICT act was filed against me. I was picked up from home and I don't know where I was kept for a few hours. There are many victims but people do not know about them."

Shafiqul Islam Kajol, who was sued under the DSA, said, "How free is our press? It seems to me that the media is dying."