BNP to hold trials if voted to power

Alleging that there has been an alarming rise in the number of forced disappearances in the country, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said the party would hold trials over these incidents if it comes to power.

"None is above law," he told a special prayer Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal organised on the ground floor of the party's Nayapaltan headquarter in the capital for Aminul Islam, president of the BNP student wing's Tejgaon College unit who was allegedly abducted one year back from Gulshan.

Fakhrul also expressed frustration over progress in investigations over the murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a second-year history student of Comilla Victoria College found dead, according to family members, inside Comilla Cantonment on March 20.

"When we open newspapers we observe several killings across the country. We have to protest this situation," he said.

Terming forced disappearances the biggest crime against humanity, he said the trend erupted with the victimisation of former Dhaka city corporation ward councillor and BNP leader Chowdhury Alam in 2010.

The "only fault" of the victimised BNP men was that they stood for the people, fought for restoring democracy and freedom of expression and protect people's basic rights, said Fakhrul.

"If we want an abduction-free country, democracy and rule of law need to be brought back," he said, adding that a "government of the people" must be forcefully established through holding of a free and fair national election under a neutral administration.