BB restrictions on journos move to hide graft, looting: BNP

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of BNP

Dhaka, Apr 28 – BNP on Sunday slammed the government for imposing restrictions on journalists' access to the Bangladesh Bank offices, saying the move was taken to hide the corruption and plunder perpetrated by Awami League MPs and their close associates.

Speaking at a demonstration, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also said a huge amount of money has been looted from different banks, and the perpetrators are none other than MPs and ministers of the Awami League, or their close associates.

“Journalists have now been restricted from entering the Bangladesh Bank so that they can’t divulge information about this looting and corruption. Because criminals always want to hide their sins," he said.

Rizvi strongly denounced the imposition of the restrictions on journalists’ access to the central bank.

A group of former lenders and workers of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Swechchasebak Dal staged the demonstration in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office demanding the unconditional release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and party leaders Habib-un-Nabi Sohel and Abdul Qader Bhuiyan Jewel.

Recently, the Bangladesh Bank imposed restrictions on journalists' access to its offices, sparking protests by media workers and various organisations.

Mezbaul Haque, the bank's spokesperson, announced on Thursday that journalists will now require a specific permit issued by the bank to visit officials at its building. This move prohibits journalists from freely entering any department of the central bank.

Rizvi said BNP leaders and workers, and other truth revealers, are now in jail, while those who engage in bank robbery, looting, repression against women and children, grabbing people’s land and houses, encroaching upon rivers, canals, and water bodies, and perpetrating injustice and vote robbery are on the prowl across the country.

He claimed that it is now proved that ruling party leaders are indulging in all sorts of misdeeds and bloodletting incidents all over the country by staying in power illegally.

The BNP leader alleged that Awami League leaders and workers have been given an unwritten free license to kill the country’s people, loot money and engage in various misdeeds.

"It’s a regime of plundering and rampant corruption, fostering thieves and looters. If they remain in power any longer, they will sell all the houses, land, and property of the people of the country," he observed.

The BNP leader called upon the country’s people to be vocal against the misdeeds and corruption of the government and the ruling party leaders and workers.

He said their party will continue its movement until the fall of the current government of Sheikh Hasina, braving all adversities. “No people will have any security and any rights if this regime is not ousted.” - UNB