Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) can not cope with the present government strategy . The party sees no alternative to launching a movement in order to revive the flagging spirits of its party leaders and activists.
Aiming at making the movement a success, BNP will announce its Dhaka city committee and immediately take up a movement in demand of fresh parliamentary elections.
The new programme is likely to be taken up after Victory Day. The leaders and the activists are being told to prepare themselves mentally and organisationally to take to the streets. However, the top leadership in the party itself is apprehensive as to how active the leaders will actually be in implementing the programmes.
At the last meeting of the party's standing committee BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia expressed her annoyance at the inaction of the senior leaders in party programmes. She took a stern stance concerning the movement and said, if no other leader took to the streets, she would do so alone if necessary.
Several leaders of BNP's standing committee and the chairperson's advisory council have said that BNP will face quite a few challenges ahead. This includes the Zia orphanage trust and Zia charitable trust cases against Khaleda Zia which are nearing verdict. The party leaders feel that the government's top leadership is observing this case keenly. Khaleda Zia may be sentenced to imprisonment in these cases and placed under arrest. The cases against the other senior leaders of the party may also be sped up, they apprehend.
Under the circumstances, BNP policymakers feel that unless the pressure is mounted on the government immediately through the movement, it will be difficult to tackle the situation. The government, otherwise, will try to split or disrupt the party.
BNP leaders feel that Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammed Kamaruzzaman will be hanged before the 16 December Victory Day. BNP wants to take to the streets immediately after that. There are preparing accordingly.
BNP leaders assess the situation, saying a verdict of the international crimes tribunal or of the Appellate Division regarding the 1971 crimes against humanity, invariably pops up whenever there is hint of a movement.
BNP feels the government is following its old strategy of keeping the verdict in hand to control the opposition's movement. This time BNP leadership is keeping all these considerations in mind while it plans its movement.
BNP's leadership is also consciously keeping in contact with powerful forces and groups at home and abroad before launching the movement. Also, the tenure of two chiefs of two important state institutions will end within the next few months. The party is waiting to see who will be appointed to these posts.
Earlier BNP had announced it would launch movements before the last two Eids, but could do nothing. The leaders feel this was because of the problems with the city committee and Chhatra Dal Leaders involved in restructuring the committee said that till last Tuesday work has been completed on the formation of about 55% of the 1400 thana and units of Dhaka city BNP's 120 organisational wards. By the end of this month, 80% of the committees will be complete. No committees will be formed in 20% of the wards for "strategic" reasons. This includes wards of former convenor Sadeq Hossain Khoka and where there is strong intra-party conflict.
Two leaders of the city BNP have said that they are having to form these committees almost silently as they are not managing to rent venues to hold the conferences. They are even afraid to congregate in any house in fear of being arrested by the police.
Sources within the party said, in order to create a greater unity, initiative is being taken to include in the movement parties which are unable to join hands with BNP due to Jamaat. Certain senior leaders have been given the responsibility to determine a way to handle this.
BNP standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman told, "A national unity is required to remove such an oppressive government.
The party's top leadership plans to start the movement from the beginning of the new year, that is 2015. Gradually the movement will gain momentum from there.
The party also plans to activate the international quarters that were disgruntled over the 5 January election. This will put pressure on the government from within and outside for early parliamentary elections.
A large programme of the movement is likely to be announced at the public rally of the 20-party alliance to be held on 19 December in Comilla. The leaders are unwilling to speak about details of the programmes at present.
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