Awami League (AL) General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today (August 18) said the ruling AL wants peaceful elections in the country, but BNP wants to disrupt the polls. 

"BNP is known as a terrorist party... It is to see - to whom sanctions and visa policy would be applied," he told a discussion on Dhaka University campus in the capital. 

Dhaka University unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) organised the discussion on the occasion of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 48th martyrdom anniversary and the National Mourning Day.
 
Quader said BNP is the burning proof of what is called fascism as the BNP leaders follow fascism. On the other hand, he said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has unchained the country's democracy. 

BNP has destroyed democracy, siphoned off money and started the politics of vote stealing by killing democracy, the AL general secretary said, adding that BNP is fascist pretending as a party of democracy. 

"They (BNP) have been recognised as terrorists at the international level and our fight is against them," he added. 

About the "headache" of foreigners over Bangladesh's elections, Quader said: "They intimidate and threaten us, and now they are applying visa policy...BNP is not facing such threats. But BNP is obstructing the elections. So, the visa policy will be applicable to them (BNP), not to us". 

He alleged that BNP is bringing its leaders and workers to Dhaka by paying Taka 2,000-5,000 each in its movement demanding the resignation of the AL government. 

BDST: 2046 HRS, AUG 18, 2023
MN