Dhaka: Khaleda Zia, the leader of the
Bangladesh`s main Opposition BNP, has vowed to launch an all
out campaign to oust the ruling Awami League party to defend
the country`s national interest.
66-year-old Zia, a former Bangladesh Prime Minister,
told her party activists that "there is no other alternative
but movement".
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, spokesman of Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), said "there is no time to keep mum
now".
"The government is trying to eliminate BNP. There is
no time to keep mum now and we will not spare them
(government) in this circumstance,? he told reporters today at
the party`s office.
"Certainly after Eid, we must launch movement to
protect the interest of the people and the country....now
there is no other alternative but movement," Zia, the
chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was
quoted as saying by the Daily Star newspaper.
The BNP supremo underlined her party`s demand that the
government scrap the "anti-national treaties" Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina inked during her landmark India visit in
January.
Alamgir underlined that party`s determination to
launch an all out campaign against the government as there was
no scope for us to move back while a spontaneous
nationwide general strike proved the peoples` hatred for the
government.
BNP on Sunday enforced a nationwide general strike
against the "eviction" of Zia from her cantonment residence.
The party described the action as "illegal" since the case was
pending in the Supreme Court.
The house, where Zia has been living for the past 40
years, was allotted to her under a controversial lease
agreement 29 years ago after her husband, the then president
Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in 1981.
However, the military`s Inter Service Public Relations
(ISPR) said the Cantonment Board authorities "extended her the
due honour as she vacated the house extending her cooperation
in executing the court verdict".
The government last year scrapped the lease agreement
of Zia`s cantonment house, and the High Court last month
rejected her plea to retain the posh 2.72 acres residence. A
court deadline asking her to vacate the residence expired on
November 12.
Zia last week challenged the High Court verdict before
the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court which is set to
hear the matter on November 29.
She has had an uneasy relationship with the ruling
party since her defeat in the 2008 parliamentary polls and the
government`s determination to move courts to get her two sons
living in exile abroad to face trial on graft charges.
PTI
