Khaleda warns govt against hurdles:Bangladeshi Opposition Leader/Present condition of Editor Mahmudur Rahman

Khaleda warns govt against hurdles
EconimicTimes


Bangladesh Nationalist Party is going to observe hartal today in the backdrop of lagging development, education, employment and business.
Before the hartal, BNP chief Khaleda Zia has warned the government against any obstruction to the countrywide general strike.
"The government will have to bear the responsibility of any fallout if it tries to obstruct our peaceful programme."
Opposition leader Khaleda was speaking at a media briefing at her office in Gulshan Frdiay.
The former prime minister said the government should rectify itself realising the overall situation.
Alluding to the opposition's claim that the Awami League government had come to power with the aid of different quarters at home and abroad, Khaleda said, "If the people of the country do not so desire, no foreign or domestic force will be able to help the government."
Khaleda called on the public to make the general strike a success.
She said, "We were forced to call this general strike to protest against the failures and misrule of the government.
This strike has been called to stand up for the rights of the people and protest persecution.
She said the stoppage was a means to draw the attention to lagging development, education, employment and business, she added.
"So, I request the people to stop work for a few hours in order to protest against this autocratic government."
She also said that observing general strikes was a democratic right of the people and urged the government not to obstruct the opposition's peaceful movement.
Khaleda asked the ruling Awami League not to unleash its cadres on the streets to impede the opposition's programme.
She said the shutdown was a warning shot fired. "Our future programmes will depend on the actions of the government during and after the hartal."
The former prime minister reiterated her party's sincerity in cooperating with the government and said, "We want to conserve democracy and assist the government."
"We have not yet demanded that the government leave the office, nor are we asking for mid-term elections."
The people have a far more radical position than "we do regarding this government", she added.
Khaleda said that the government had made the parliament ineffective and urged the ruling party to improve the situation.

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Mahmudur kept blindfolded for 10 hours
ET Report


Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor of daily Amar Desh, told a Dhaka court Thursday that he was taken to the Rapid Action Battalion headquarters and kept there blindfolded for over ten hours on Wednesday.
He was produced at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka on completion of his four-day remand in a sedition case.
Mahmudur's lawyers and family members, however, claimed DB police tortured him physically and mentally in the name of interrogation for the last few days. After the hearing, Metropolitan Magistrate Mostafa Shahriar passed an order to send Mahmudur to jail in the case.
The court also ordered the jail authorities to provide him with first class division and proper treatment as per the Jail Code.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court yesterday rejected bail petitions filed by Mahmudur in connection with three criminal cases. Judge Mohammad Ismail Hossain passed the order.
Earlier, a lower court rejected Mahmudur's bail petitions. The cases were filed with Kotwali, Uttara and Biman Bandar police stations for obstructing police in discharging their duties, links with banned Hizb ut-Tahrir and sedition charge.
Earlier on June 20, the court rejected Mahmudur's bail petition in connection with another case filed with Tejgaon Police Station on charges of preventing police from discharging their duties on June 2.
Police arrested him on June 2 from the daily's Karwan Bazar office following a fraud case filed by the newspaper's former publisher Hasmat Ali Hasu with Tejgaon industrial area police station.
Later, he was shown arrested in four other criminal cases and remanded for a total of eleven days in the cases.

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(Expression from MASHIK BANGLA MUKTIDOTH), Dhaka Bangladesh.