BNP, Jamaat both terrorist outfits: Joy

Describing both BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami as terrorist organisations, Prime Minister`s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy yesterday said Awami League government will bring the perpetrators of the firebombing attacks to justice.

"Once you target civilians you lose the right to be called a political organization ... they (BNP and Jamaat) are both terrorist organizations," Joy said in a Facebook post.

His comments came as a Canadian court in its verdict called BNP a "terrorist organization".

Joy, also the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said during the BNP`s firebombing attacks from 2013 to 2015 he visited the burn unit at the hospital and met the victims personally.

"The horror I saw was unimaginable ... this was not politics, this was terrorism," he said.

Joy added: "We have seen our share of political violence in the past. But it has always been protesters clashing with police or government party activists. Only two parties have ever targeted civilians in Bangladesh`s history."

The PM`s ICT adviser said the first was Jamaat-e-Islam, with it`s Al-Badr, Al-Shams, etc. militias that tortured and murdered civilians during our War of Liberation. The second was BNP during this past election, firebombing buses, trains and cars. It is no wonder that the BNP is in an alliance with Jamaat.

Joy said Awami League government will bring the perpetrators of the firebombing attacks to justice.

"Just as we have brought war criminals to justice after 40 years. The BNP activists and leaders who carried out the attacks, those who financed them and those who approved them will be punished no matter how long it takes," he said.

The Canadian court called BNP as a terrorist organisation while dismissing an application for judicial review of a Bangladeshi national, who is also an activist of the BNP.

The Canadian court has observed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the BNP is, or was, a terrorist organisation.

"BNP unleashed terrorist acts in Bangladesh by calling hartals, which created significant economic disruption, as well as incidents of violence, it said.

Source: BSS