AL is not obstructing BNP rally, says Obaidul Quader

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Thursday said the government did not make any attempts to thwart the BNP's anti-government rally, but rather extended administrative support.

"Neither the government nor the Awami League has ever created any obstacles to holding the rally by BNP, and (we) will never do so," he told reporters at Shetu Bhaban in Dhaka.

Quader said Awami League or the government did not create any trouble during its recent rally in Chattogram, reports UNB.

"The transport strike was not there, so why wasn't the rally venue full of people in Chattogram?"

Quader said that neither the government nor the Awami League is intimidating the upcoming rally in Khulna.

Transport workers and owners in the southwestern region said they would suspend bus services in Khulna ahead of the BNP rally on Saturday as they are afraid of violence, Quader added.

"What can the government or Awami League do (in that case)?"

In response to the statement by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir that Awami League had created 1/11, Quader said: "Who was in power before 1/11?"

He said that BNP had created a controversy by increasing the age of judges to make their party's international affairs secretary and former chief justice KM Hasan as head of the caretaker government.

Quader said that BNP wanted to destroy the entire election system by making 12.3 million fake voters.