<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday alleged that the Awami League government is trying to defame late president Ziaur Rahman and to erase him from history by ‘falsely’ involving him in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>”We cannot forget that the Awami League leaders formed a government while the body of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was lying on the stairs of his house. Those who now spread lies that Ziaur Rahman was involved (with Mujib’s murder) have only one objective: to malign him and to remove him from history,” Fakhrul said.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader was speaking at an award distribution ceremony of an essay competition programme, marking the 42nd death anniversary of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the government has long been making efforts to defame Zia by carrying out a false campaign against him and distorting history.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader said the Prime Minister’s recent comment linking Zia to the August 15 incident in 1975 was a complete lie.</div><div><br></div><div>“They’re now telling such strange stories that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the murder of late leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It's nothing but a distortion of history with a motive to foil the movement that has started to bring back democracy,” Fakhrul observed.</div><div><br></div><div>He said BNP was not yet founded as a party when Sheikh Mujibur was assassinated and Ziaur Rahman was the deputy chief of army at the time.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader also said the chiefs of the army, navy, and air forces expressed their loyalty to the government formed under the leadership of Awami League leader Khandakar Mushtaq Ahmed after the assassination of Bangabandhu and most of his family members on August 15, 1975.</div><div><br></div><div>After independence, Fakhrul alleged that Awami League turned Bangladesh into a state of misrule and plundering, and established one-party Baksal rule by destroying democracy and snatching people’s rights.</div><div><br></div><div>He said it was Zia who later restored democracy and people’s lost rights by introducing multi-party democracy.</div><div><br></div><div>Stating that the country is now in a deep crisis, he urged the country’s people to get united to restore democracy and establish an elected government through a credible election under a non-party administration. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>