On the one hand, the Awami League campaign is going on around the national parliament election, on the other hand, the BNP central office in Nayapaltan of the capital is locked. For 2 months and 9 days, the leaders and workers of the party are not able to come to their offices. Everyone is avoiding the office in fear of arrest. There are no officials or even security guards. As a result, silence is going on at the permanent address of one of the largest political parties in the country. Not only the Nayapaltan central office, but also the BNP chairperson's political office in Gulshan in other parts of the country are also closed. BNP leaders and activists said that the office was not opened even on national days including Victory Day.
On October 28 last year, on the day of the grand rally in Dhaka, there was a massive clash between the party's leaders and activists in Nayapaltan. After that, the police took position in front of the central office of BNP. The next day, the crime scene unit of the CID surrounded the BNP office with stickers and conducted an investigation. At that time, the police officials said, "Crime scene" written around it means that no one will be able to enter or leave the BNP office beyond that fence. Police are collecting evidence from there to investigate the crime. The BNP office will remain virtually closed until the investigation is over.
Two days later, the police installed barbed wire barricades on both sides of the office. The footpath in front of the office is also closed to the general public. Pedestrians were asked by the police to move to the side of the road. Since then, none of the BNP leaders have gone to the office due to the fear of lawsuits and arrests.
It was seen on the ground yesterday Saturday that although there is no security around the office as before, there is a position of law and order forces nearby. Inside the office, the security guard's table is lying horizontally. As far as the eye could see, it was piled high with dirt and dust. Apart from leaflets, torn pieces of posters, empty water bottles, two plastic chairs are overturned. In another chair, apart from the Election Commission's letter, there are some other letters. Those letters are also gathering dust. As there is no light, the atmosphere inside the office is now haunted. No activists were seen even today.
It has been reported that since BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and senior leaders of the party have been arrested and are in jail, the opening of the main gate of the central office has become uncertain. After October 28, the police arrested the librarian of the Nayapaltan office. Three non-political members of the party's media cell were also arrested on their way out of the Gulshan office. Earlier, when the police raided the Nayapaltan office on different occasions, the workers were arrested and sent to jail. Now they are all waiting for a normal environment, when everyone will get a chance to do politics again. The party leaders are thinking of going to the office then.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP said, 'The government has planned and adopted all the techniques to organize one-sided elections in the country. As part of their master plan to remove opposition parties and ideas from the country, crackdowns have created an atmosphere of fear. Fascism is in the country. There is no precedent for blocking the headquarters of the opposition party in a democratic state. Even before this, they have attacked BNP's party office several times, blocked it, rioted inside the office, looted it. This is their tradition.'
Rizvi claims that they do not have the environment to go to the office. Not only the leaders and workers, but also the office workers are not safe. In such a situation, he does not know for sure when the office will open again.
