BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan today alleged that the government is desperate to make their chairperson Khaleda Zia ineligible for election by punishing her with ‘false’ cases filed against her.

“There are many cases pending for over 10 years. No fresh dates are set for hearing on those cases. But, new dates are being fixed within 2-4 days for hearing on the cases filed against Khaleda Zia. The main motivation behind this is to make Khaleda ineligible for polls by somehow convicting her,” he said a discussion.

All Community Forum, a pro-BNP platform, arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club demanding the release of journalist Shafik Rehman.

Nazrul, a BNP standing committee member, said the government is implicating the BNP chairperson, its senior vice chairman and other senior leaders in ‘false’ cases to keep them out of politics. He alleged that journalist Shafik Rehman was arrested as part of a ‘dirty design’ by the government.

The BNP leader criticised plainclothes police for arresting Shafik Rehman indenting themselves as journalists. “Isn’t this a mockery?”

He also alleged that the journalist was arrested as he used to write and speak well with logic in favour of truth.

The BNP leader urged the journalist community to be vocal against the arrest of Shafik Rahman.

Referring to the arrest of pro-BNP city mayors, he said that those who did not get people’s votes are now running the country by putting the elected behind bars.

He said though people had liberated the country with the spirit of establishing democracy, the government has obliterated it.

Nazrul called upon all to unite under Khaleda Zia’s leadership to ‘restore’ democracy and free the country from the ‘grasp’ of the current ‘repressive’ regime.