BNP may be banned if people demand: Hanif

Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif on Wednesday said a ban on BNP may be imposed if the people of the country demand so.

"People are the source of all power. If people want to see an `illegal` party to be announced as an as illegal one (party), then announcement in this regard may be made in accordance with the people`s will," he said.

Hanif said this in reply to a question at a press conference at the political office of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina at Dhanmondi in the city.

Replying to the remarks of BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alangir that the nation was frustrated at Prime Minister`s address to her countrymen, the Awami League leader said, "The nation was not frustrated rather BNP leaders were frustrated at Prime Minister`s speech as BNP was frustrated witnessing the unprecedented development of the country recorded by the present government. "We are saying time and again that there is no political crisis in Bangladesh now but there are crises in Pakistani-minded Khaleda and her party BNP, not among the masses."

Hanif said, "The whole nation has been expecting a ray of hope anew following the speech of the Prime Minister. They have been dreaming afresh. At the same time, the defeated forces of 1971, the agent and ghost of Pakistan like BNP has been trying to mislead the people resorting to falsehood on Prime Minister`s address."

He said, "The BNP was born illegally. Awami League has been floated on June 23 in 1949 for establishing the right`s of the masses of Bangladesh (The then East Pakistan). If the BNP leaders including Alamgir Saheb are ignorant about the history of this part of the sub-continent then I would like to request them to go through the history book."

Hanif said, "Awami League as a people-oriented political party of the country was floated many years before 1971. So, we expect that no BNP leader would show shamelessness in branding Awami League as an illegal party in future. Nothing good can be expected from a party (BNP) which is led by a lady leader who doesn`t believe in Bangladesh till now. Time has come to identify those liars in BNP including its chairperson. There`s no time to be misled by their falsehood."

Awami League organising secretaries Ahmed Hossain and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, law affairs secretary Advocate Abdul Matin Khosru, agriculture affairs secretary Dr Abdur Razzak, relief affairs secretary Faridunnahar Laily, information and research affairs Advocate Afzal Hossain, office secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap and AL Central Working Committee member Enamul Haque Shamim were, among others, present at the press conference.