Staff Reporter :
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has stated that it is up to the people of the country to determine whether the Awami League should be completely banned or barred from participating in the upcoming national elections, in accordance with democratic principles.
“I have said before that the people will decide. We have consistently maintained that we are a liberal democratic party. We believe in democracy, trust its principles and practices, and remain committed to them-just as we have in the past,” Fakhrul said on Thursday.
His remarks came during a press briefing when a journalist sought his response to the UN Human Rights Office’s call to refrain from banning any political party.
He emphasized that the BNP does not have the authority to decide which party should be banned or allowed to operate.
“The people will decide. They will determine which party remains, which does not, who will participate in elections, and who will not,” he said.
When asked if the BNP supports banning the Awami League, he reiterated, “We have already made it clear that this is for the people to decide. Our stance is irrelevant-it is the people’s decision, not ours.”
A report also highlighted that former senior officials involved in handling the protests, along with other inside sources, claimed that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other senior officials oversaw large-scale operations in which security and intelligence forces shot and killed protesters or subjected them to arbitrary arrests and torture.
However, the UN Human Rights Office has advised against banning any political party to uphold multiparty democracy.
Mirza Fakhrul reaffirmed the BNP’s strong opposition to the introduction of proportional representation in the upcoming general elections.
“We are firmly against it. We will not support any form of proportional elections because it is not a system familiar to our people. The question itself should not arise,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, the BNP has filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) over the killing of its party members during what it describes as the autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina. The complaint alleges the killing of 848 BNP leaders and activists.
On behalf of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Salauddin Khan, coordinator of the BNP’s Case Data Information Cell, submitted the complaint to the ICT Chief Prosecutor’s office on Thursday.
The complaint names deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the primary accused, along with former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former Law Minister Anisul Haq, former IGP Abdullah Al Mamun, and the former Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
Additionally, the BNP has filed 84 cases supported by evidence.
According to the complaint, 848 leaders and activists were brutally killed between July 1 and August 5 as part of an orchestrated effort to dismantle political parties like the BNP.
