DHAKA: Opposition BNP Tuesday alleged that the government held in detention their party leader Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu to “save the MPs of the ruling Awami League involved in the BDR massacre at Pilkhana”.

Leaders of the party made the sweeping allegation at a protest meeting organized at the Engineer’s Institution auditorium by Lalbagh, Kotwali, Bangsal and Hazaribag units of BNP.

“Pintu has been held only to save the ruling-party MPs who held meetings at their residences with the rebel BDR jawans before and after the massacre,” BNP standing committee member MK Anwar told the gathering.

Besides, he alleged, AL sent the rebels to safe shelters by chanting slogan during the incident.

Senior joint-secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, following Anwar’s speech, said, “The mass media published news on the behind-the-curtain involvement of some ruling-party leaders in the BDR massacre. So, the government detained Pintu to cover up the matter as Pintu has the ability to turn the government upside down.”

The other leaders from different thanas also blamed AL for the BDR massacre in 2009.

They also demanded publishing the probe report on the mutiny and massacre and called upon the people to get united to stand against what they said government’s misrule.

BDST: 2140 HRS. AUGUST 10, 2010