'BNP to be allowed to hold rally at Suhrawardy Udyan'

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said BNP will be allowed to hold its 10 December mass rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in capital Dhaka on conditions.

He said this in reply to a query from the journalists after a program in Sadarghat area of the capital on Thursday evening.

Mentioning that the government never obstructed BNP to hold meeting-rally, he said, "We did not also disallow Dhaka's rally. We have only expressed their fears."

BNP will gather 25-30 lakh people in Dhaka which will make the entire city standstill, that is why the party was told to find a bigger place for the program, he said.

Mentioning that BNP lastly sought permission to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, Kamal said the government told Dhaka Metropolitan Police to inform the party in this regard and the prime minister's instruction is also the same.

"They can hold this meeting at Suhrawardy Udyan but any untoward incident, impediment, and public suffering cannot happen, this request to them," the home minister said.

BNP had announced to hold its Dhaka divisional mass rally on December 10 as part of its rallies in divisional cities seeking the party chief Khaleda Zia's unconditional release, election-time non-party impartial government, and protesting fuel prices hike, deaths, of leaders and activists by police, attack and false cases against them.

TT/SU