BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has questioned some political parties making attempts to influence votes by using religion and by sending money through bKash, and whether or not it is a violation of the electoral code of conduct.
He posed the question at a prayer gathering on Saturday afternoon held on the ground floor of the party’s central office in Nayapaltan, Dhaka, organised by the party on the occasion of the 11th death anniversary of the late Arafat Rahman Koko, son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Rizvi said, “A particular political party has said – work for us, give your bKash number, we will send something there. I’m not saying this; I read it in the newspaper. The question is, does this fall under the electoral code of conduct? Is buying votes with money not a violation of the code of conduct?”
Remembering the late Arafat Rahman Koko, he said, “His death was not a normal death; it was the result of physical and mental oppression under fascist rule.”
The BNP spokesperson said,”Tthe youngest son of the great Proclaimer of Independence, President Ziaur Rahman, and the leader who inspired the entire nation for the restoration of democracy, Begum Khaleda Zia, the late Arafat Rahman Coco, has left this world. His death was an untimely death, not a natural death. He died as a result of the combined oppression-torture of fascism and their cohorts.”
He recalled that in January 2015, to suppress the movement for the restoration of democracy, the Sheikh Hasina government confined Begum Khaleda Zia in her Gulshan office by blocking it with sand trucks and wood trucks from all sides.
Pepper powder was thrown into her eyes while she was speaking to journalists, and a horrific situation of suffocation was created amidst the smoke. Rizvi said, the barbaric form of this oppression was being witnessed by the late Arafat Rahman Koko from far away Malaysia. He was then undergoing treatment after suffering a heart attack.
“Seeing the ghastly scene of his mother being tortured, he could not cope and, overcome with grief and distress, died right there,” Rizvi said.
He further said, “After Coco’s body was brought to the country, BNP leaders and activists were under police warrants at that time. On television, they saw Begum Khaleda Zia sitting holding her dead son’s body. Cases were filed not only against BNP leaders and activists who went to pay condolences but also against intellectuals, professors, doctors, and prominent citizens of the country.”
Rizvi gave an example, saying that before the renowned political scientist Professor Emajuddin Ahmed could return home after paying condolences at the Gulshan office, five cases were filed against him. This was a sign of the horrific tyranny of fascism.
He said that through the revolution of the July-August movement, in exchange for much bloodshed and sacrifice, fascism was forced to flee from this country. Despite the torture by law enforcement, Jubo League, Chhatra League, and various forces, torture in the name of ‘ayna ghar’ and remand, Sheikh Hasina had to flee in the face of the people’s movement.
Rizvi said, “Those who are leaders of the people and oppress the people, their ultimate fate is to flee. 5 August is its proof. This is nature’s law and Allah’s decree; Allah does not tolerate any oppressor.”
Rizvi said, “The late Arafat Rahman Coco was not involved in politics; he was a sports organizer. But his death was the result of brutal, oppressive misrule.
He prayed for Koko’s soul to attain forgiveness and prayed to Allah to grant him Jannatul Firdaus.
Leaders and activists from various levels of BNP and its associated organisations were present at this time.
