BNP upset after denied clearance for rally

BNP has lambasted the government for denying permission to the party to organise a rally at Narayanganj with Khaleda Zia addressing it. “The BNP chairperson wanted to convey sympathy to the families of the victims in Naryanganj,” acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a news conference on Thursday. He said obstructing her to address a rally was denial of democratic rights. “We strongly condemn it.” Fakhrul hoped Naryanganj Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy would reconsider her decision of not allowing the BNP to hold the May 14 rally in the city. BNP Standing Committee member ASM Hannan Shah went to Narayanganj to stand by the grief stricken people of Narayanganj, he said. Ivy on Wednesday refused the BNP permission for the rally, fearing deterioration of law and order in Narayanganj that has been under the media spotlight after the abduction and killing of seven people. BNP’s Narayanganj unit chief Toimur Alam Khandaker applied to the city corporation for permission to hold the rally on the Bangabandhu Road in front of the city corporation office and sought additional security. “It is not possible to give them (BNP) permission given the current situation in the city,” Ivy told reporters. “Moreover, there’s a hospital beside their (the BNP’s) proposed rally venue,” she said. —-bdnews24.com