Tarique warns against rehabilitating ‘fleeing autocrats’

BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on Friday urged the interim government not to take any step that would facilitate the rehabilitation of fleeing autocrats in the country.

“I would like to draw the attention of the interim government and reiterate that no steps should be taken to allow the fugitive autocrats and their cohorts to be rehabilitated in the state and politics,” he said while addressing an iftar party virtually.

BNP hosted the iftar party at the Ladies Club in the city’s Eskaton area in honour of various professionals.

Tarique also stressed the importance of maintaining national unity against fascism for the greater good of the nation.

“By turning a minor issue into the main focus in the political arena, doubts and suspicions have been, or are being, inadvertently created within the anti-fascist national unity,” he observed.

In a context where thousands of crores of money looted from the state remain unrecovered, the BNP leader said holding local body elections before the national election would create an opportunity for the rehabilitation of fugitive autocrats and their associates, who are still lurking in the country.

He pointed out that around three crore young voters were denied the right to vote during the one-and-a-half decades of Sheikh Hasina's mafia rule.

“To ensure the political empowerment of these voters, the national election must be held first in the country,” Tarique said.

He also observed that no reforms would be sustainable without the political empowerment of the country’s people.