<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday alleged that the intelligence agencies are picking up their potential candidates and putting pressure on them to join the next polls under the present government defying the party decision.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Speaking at a press conference at BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office, he asked the law enforcers to refrain from seditious activities like obstructing the peaceful movement of the people and unlawfully arresting and harassing opposition leaders and activists.</div><div><br></div><div>“I want to share with you (journalists) awful information that among our politically active leaders who earlier contested or will contest the election are being picked up by the intelligence agencies, and they are being told to join the election even if BNP boycotts it,” the BNP leader said.</div><div><br></div><div>He said their many leaders are informing the party high command that they are being threatened by the law enforcers to participate in the polls.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>"I’m telling you (media) it publicly. What country are we living in? We’re now living in a medieval barbarian age as there is no wrongdoing that the present government is not doing to cling to power."</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul alleged that the government has again started plotting to eliminate the opposition leaders and workers from the election field ahead of the upcoming national election in a planned way.</div><div><br></div><div>He said BNP leaders and activists are being arrested, jailed and implicated in false cases all over the country. ‘There is no reason to take the matter lightly.”</div><div><br></div><div>When the entire world is talking about the lack of democracy in Bangladesh and raising the allegation of human rights violations against the current regime, Fakhrul said the Prime Minister and her party colleagues are again spreading lies to cheat the people.</div><div><br></div><div>“All kinds of evil tactics are being adopted to suppress the political opponents. “The vital and prominent members of BNP and its associate bodies are being arrested across the country and they’re not being released with an ulterior motive. The government is now doing what it did before the 2018 elections,” he alleged.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader also accused the government of trying to use the administration once again for holding a lopsided election and going back to power as a hybrid regime. “But people have turned around and won’t let you do it this time.”</div><div><br></div><div>He called upon the officials of the state machinery, including administration and law enforcement agencies not to involve themselves in unconstitutional activities.</div><div><br></div><div>“Don't stand against the people. The people of this country have always stood against any undemocratic force. They stood up against any fascism and established their rights. They’ll also restore their rights again,” the BNP leader warned.</div><div><br></div><div>Fakhrul also urged the law enforcers not to disrupt the democratic processes by following the unfair and illegal orders of the government.</div><div><br></div><div>He said it is the constitutional right of the people to carry out a movement for establishing their rights. “We think the obstruction to a peaceful movement of people, the arrest of demonstrators and repressions on them are tantamount to treason. Please refrain from these activities.”</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP leader urged the government to step down right now as per the people’s desire and hand over power to a non-party neutral administration for holding the next polls in a free and fair manner.</div><div><br></div><div>"Otherwise the people of the country know how to get back their rights," he warned.</div><div><br></div><div>Giving a list of the names of arrested leaders of BNP and its associate bodies, Fakhrul demanded their immediate release. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>