DHAKA: Opposition BNP is ready for legal battle for justice against what party leaders said “attempt on life” of Tarique Rahman and his younger brother Arafat Rahman Coco after the 1/11 episode on the country’s political stage.

“BNP will hold trial of the attempt to murder Tarique and Arafat in future if the government does not hold the trial,” BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan told journalists Friday.

He was talking to the journalists after placing wreath at the mazar of BNP founder and slain President Ziaur Rahman marking the jail-release day of party senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman, elder son of Zia and ex-PM and party chair Begum Khaleda Zia.

The two brothers were arrested during a crackdown on the political arena following the 1/11, 2007 changeover amid a political crisis over election issues. They were later released on parole for treatment abroad and still under treatment in London and Bangkok respectively.

Khan and other leaders and activists of the party paid homage to its founder Zia Friday and took a fresh vow that they would remain active in the street with people’s demands defying obstruction from government side.

“The government smells war crimes even if movement is waged to press home demands of common people. So, BNP will remain active in the field despite obstruction from the government,” said the BNP Standing Committee Member, Nazrul Islam Khan.

Party Senior Joint Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said a new trend of politics was expected from Awami League this time around. “But Awami League can’t come out of dirty politics,” he said.

Eulogizing Zia as the pioneer of multiparty democracy in the country, Fakhrul also deplored “Awami League leaders do not remember its founder Moulana Bhasani. So, what other people can expect from them?”

BNP’s religious affairs secretary Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder, student affairs secretary Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annee, JCD president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and other leaders were present.

BDST 1408 HRS SEPT 03, 2010