<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the Awami League government has turned Bangladesh into a 'deep state' by using the state machinery to cling to power.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“They (AL) are using the state machinery, including the law enforcement forces, the judiciary, and the administration. That means they have already turned Bangladesh into a deep state," he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Speaking at a human chain programme, the BNP leader also said Awami League is a terrorist party by birth as it beat its founder and a national leader like Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani and drove him out of the party.</div><div><br></div><div>“They (AL) themselves are terrorists. That is why they turned the country into absolutely a terrorist state.&nbsp; Awami League is the party that sustains by resorting to terrorism. There’s nothing but terror in their body language,” he observed.</div><div><br></div><div>BNP’s Keraniganj south unit arranged the programme in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office to protest the attack on party standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy during the party’s sit-in programme at Dholaikhal on Saturday.</div><div><br></div><div>About arranging lunch for BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy at the office of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police and sending gifts for party leader Amanullah Aman by the Prime Minister after their detention, Fakhrul said the government did it to divert people’s attention to a different direction from the movement for the restoration of democracy, voting rights and human rights.</div><div><br></div><div>“The Awami League has become so much bankrupt politically that they have to do these things now and spread videos. Does Awami League know etiquette? They don't know it. Awami League was never a party of gentlemen. So, there is no reason to expect politeness from them,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>He said Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Aman Ullah Aman need not prove their patriotism afresh. “They proved their patriotism with their lifelong politics and struggle for democracy."</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader said the government has got scared seeing the gathering of lakhs of people at BNP’s grand rally at Nayapaltan on July 28, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>He said it is Awami League not BNP indulging in arson violence. “BNP will establish democracy through a justified and peaceful movement.”</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul called upon the government to step down and dissolve parliament to hold the election under a non-party caretaker government. He said, “This is the only way to overcome the crisis.”&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>