BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will not keep her major ally Jamaat-e-Islami in the all-party national unity to fight militancy proposed by her party, a pro-BNP intellectual said today.

Jamaat is the only party which is creating a problem towards national unity, said Prof Emajuddin Ahmed at a discussion programme in Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.

“That’s why, Khaleda Zia has decided to keep Jamaat out of the unity,” he said.

In wake of a spate of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, BNP came out with a proposal for an all-party national unity to fight against the threat of militancy and terrorism.

However, citing BNP’s affiliation with Jamaat — the party that opposed Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971 — ruling Awami League leaders have been shunning BNP’s proposal.

‘KILLING MILITANTS DESTROY TRACE OF THEIR ORIGIN’

Questioning the government’s steps in curbing militancy, BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan today alleged that killing militants destroy traces of their origin.

“By killing the militants their origin is lost. Not only BNP, people too believe that the government lacks willingness to check militancy,” Khan, a Standing Committee member of the party, told journalists at a press briefing in Nayapaltan party headquarters this morning.
He alleged that the government is creating suppression against opposition political parties instead of curbing militancy.

At least 250 opposition leaders and supporters including BNP were arrested in the country and false cases were lodged against them, the BNP leader alleged.

Foreigners are feeling panicky due to the militant attacks in the country, he claimed.

There are no apparent and effective steps by the government to contain unusual flood situation, Khan complained.

He condemned police action against marchers, who were heading towards the Prime Minister’s Office, demanding cancellation of a proposed power plant project near the Sundarbans.