Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday said that the proposed Cyber Security Act would be more terrible and dangerous than the Digital Security Act.

‘As the government has taken a policy of suppressing people’s rights, there is no possibility of enacting a people-friendly law,’ BNP senior joint-secretary general Rahul Kabir Rizvi said at a press conference at the party Naya Paltan central office.

The government has decided to scrap the controversial Digital Security Act and make a new one renamed as Cyber Security Act.

The press conference was arranged to share data about recent incidents of arrest and attacks on BNP people.

In response to the journalists’ questions, Rizvi said, ‘If the fascist government is in power, I don’t think anything good will be done by them. They did it as an eyewash under domestic and foreign pressure.’

Rizvi said that 820 people were injured in attacks on July 28 and July 29 in different places centring the mass gathering in Dhaka while 500 have been arrested.

He complained that before and after July 28 and 29, BNP leaders and activists were being tortured by the police and intelligence forces.

‘Arrests, enforced disappearances are not stopping by any means. A new dimension is being added to the incident of raiding the houses of BNP leaders and activists by the intelligence police late at night,’ he said, adding that family members of the BNP people are being picked up if leaders and activists are not found at homes.

Like the Rapid Action Battalion, the intelligence and police have now become the synonym of terror, he said, adding that high-level officials loyal to Awami League lead them.

Abdus Salam, a member of BNP chairperson’s advisory council, and Khairul Kabir, joint secretary general, were also present at the press conference.