BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, Whether we will have freedom, whether we will have sovereignty, whether we will have democratic rights, whether I will be able to elect my representative, everything will depend on the next few days.

ASM Hannan Shah Memorial Sangsad organised the discussion marking the 7th death anniversary of the late BNP standing committee member and former minister, ASM Hannan Shah, at the National Press Club.

He said, ‘We are in a terrible situation, and the state of the country is awful. If we cannot get out of that situation, the existence of the whole nation will be endangered. This crisis is not only BNP’s. This is the crisis of the entire nation.’

Fakhrul added that those who are struggling should become more powerful, spread this struggle to the streets, and engage the common people.

‘Our victory will be assured only when we will fully be able to bring the common people down to the streets,’ he said.

He said that opposition parties, including the BNP, would not participate in any elections under the Awami League government.

‘There can be no fair election under them. That is why no one in this country will participate in elections under Sheikh Hasina. All political parties are saying the same thing. See, still how bankrupt this Awami League government is, they are trying to break the party with those who have already been expelled from our party,’ the BNP leader said.

He said that people had made the decision that they wanted a free, fair, impartial, and participatory election under a non-partisan, neutral government.

‘We are on the streets with this demand. No matter how much they torture, they cannot stop us,’ he said.

He said that there were no senior BNP leaders left without facing cases.

‘A cell has been created in the Ministry of Law in this regard to ensure the conviction of the BNP people to keep them away from elections,’ he said.

About the United States visa restrictions on Bangladeshis, Fakhrul said, it is not a matter of happiness, it’s a shame!

This government is responsible for this, he said.

The president of the Gazipur district unit of BNP, Fazlul Haque Milon, presided over the event, which was moderated by the party’s central executive committee member, Mojibur Rahman.

BNP vice chairman Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and joint secretary general Khairul Kabir Khokon spoke at the programme, among others.