The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday demanded an international probe into the country鈥檚 recent anti-quota student movement and its aftermath so that all could know what actually happened in the country during the protests.
鈥楾he government is deliberately conducting raids at houses of BNP leaders to hide the state-sponsored acts of vandalism. It wants to shift the responsibility to the opposition through the blame game,鈥� BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a statement.
鈥楽everal hundreds of innocent students were killed during the quota reform movement while the judicial investigation team is inquiring into six incidents of killing. It is a plan to conceal the entire incident. So an international inquiry is a must,鈥� he said.
The BNP leader said that his party strongly condemned the ongoing arrest spree across the country.
He also said that his party聽 people were by no means involved in the student movement.
He condemned arrest of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party chairman, Andaleeve Rahman Partho.
Fakhrul said that the government and some members of the law enforcement agencies were blaming the BNP and opposition party leaders and activists by falsely accusing them of playing a role in the movement.
鈥業f opposition people are involved in such incidents, why were they not arrested on the spot? That is the question of the people. It proves that neither the BNP nor opposition parties are involved in the movement,鈥� he said.
Expressing his grief for the police and Ansar members killed during the anti-quota movement, Fakhrul said that the home ministry gave Tk 2 lakh in cash and Tk 8 lakh savings certificates each to families of slain policemen and Ansar members.
鈥極n the other hand, people of the country have witnessed massacre of hundreds of innocent students. But those killings are not being investigated. I call for exemplary punishment for those involved by bringing them to justice. We also demand proper compensation for victims in those incidents,鈥� he added.