The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has strongly condemned the attack on its Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Mohammad Abu Taher, and National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Akhtar Hossain in New York, where they were part of a delegation accompanying the Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus for the 80th United Nations General Assembly.
The party has called for the immediate arrest and punishment of those responsible for the attack.
The condemnation came during a meeting of the BNP’s National Standing Committee, held at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office on Tuesday night.
The meeting, which started at 8:45pm and concluded around 11:15pm, was chaired virtually by Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman from London.
Other key party leaders, including Dr. Khondkar Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Salahuddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, and Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, were present.
The Standing Committee discussed the attack on the political leaders by expatriate Awami League members in New York and expressed serious concerns about the growing political violence.
The leaders emphasised the need for the party to strengthen its organizational structure to effectively combat fascism and prepare for the upcoming national elections.
Tarique Rahman also warned that defeated political forces might resort to further incidents to disrupt the political landscape, stressing the importance of remaining vigilant.
Moreover, the meeting explored plans for nationwide electoral campaigning, with discussions about taking the election message to districts, upazilas, and towns across Bangladesh in the near future.
In a separate development, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir rejected claims made by Ei Samay, an Indian media outlet, about an interview with him.
He categorically stated that the interview was fake and had never been conducted. Fakhrul said the journalist from the publication had approached him for an interview, but he did not provide any statements to them.
He criticised the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to fabricate such misleading news, labeling the article as intentional misinformation.
“I did not say anything of the sort in Ei Samay. The claims about the BNP facing pressure from Jamaat-e-Islami regarding the allocation of 30 seats are also false,” Fakhrul said.
