Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said that the BNP would secure victory in the next elections.

Addressing a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital to mark the 54th anniversary of the country’s independence,

He said that the BNP stood by the people and would continue to do so in the future.

The BNP leader, apparently criticising newly formed political party National Citizen Party led by the student leaders of the July Uprising, said that the BNP clearly understood the intentions of those who campaign with a motorcade of a hundred cars.

A senior leader of the NCP, Sarjis Alam had flown on Monday to Panchagarh, his home district, via Saidpur and held street rallies in various upazilas of the bordering district with over 100 vehicles.

Fakhrul said that the BNP made it very clear that there was no alternative to elections as democracy could only be achieved through the electoral process.

The BNP believes that no other system can benefit the people, he said.

‘But today, a new conspiracy has started so that the elections process can be postponed and delayed, someone else can be helped and anarchy can be created in the country,’ Fakhrul alleged.

He said that the current crisis was so severe that the country’s patriotic army was being targeted.

Recalling the massacre of March 25, 1971, Fakhrul said that on that dark night, the Pakistani occupation forces attacked the people of this country and killed innocent civilians.

But Pakistan is yet to offer apology for that, he said.

‘I am saying this because a group of people [in Bangladesh] are not taking this matter into consideration. They helped the Pakistan Army in 1971, and I do not want to mention their names. Now, they are trying to speak out loudly again,’ Fakhrul said.

BNP Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said that if the election date was announced immediately, the people would become focused on the election and it would leave no room for any conspiracies to be devised against an election-oriented public.

‘In the interest of the country, the people, law and order, the economy, and the current government, we call upon you on this Independence Day to immediately announce the election date without considering any excuses or demands from anyone,’ he said.