Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said that BNP was now intimidating the police force by making it a new opponent.

‘BNP is now making the country’s police force a new opponent, which proves that they (BNP leaders) are the masterminds behind the so-called sanction conspiracy,’ he said in a statement.

Responding to the BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s warning that ‘sanctions may also be imposed on the police force’, he said that the BNP hired lobbyists for imposing sanctions on some of the RAB officials and now it was threatening the police force too.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said that police would not sit idle if BNP men created anarchy in the name of the movement and carry out attack on the law enforcers.

He said that the Bangladesh Police was performing statutory duty to ensure safety and security of people and protect public properties.

The BNP is bearing the brunt of the consequences of the politics of killing, plot and terrorism, the AL general secretary said.

The BNP is yet to take lessons from the past and it is paying for its past mistakes, he said, adding, ‘If the party does not return to the path of democracy, the people will reply to it through ballots.’

Quader said that Fakhrul again demanded the government’s resignation and talked about handing over power to the caretaker government, which was an irrational demand indeed.

‘Why will the government resign? The Awami League respects the public opinion. The people had given the Awami League the responsibility of running the country for five years. At the end of the term, elections will be held in accordance with the Constitution,’ he said.

Reiterating that there is no chance of changing the government without elections, the road transport and bridges minister said, ‘So join the elections if you want to change the government. Elections will determine who will assume power.’

Terming the Fakhrul’s demand of caretaker government a settled issue, he said that the caretaker government was now in museum after the judgment of the country’s apex court so there was no need to talk about a settled issue.

Replying to another statement of the BNP secretary general, Quader said that Fakhrul termed the House ‘domesticated one’ but there were the representatives of BNP in parliament.

‘But are they (BNP lawmakers) domesticated? …such statements of Fakhrul about the national parliament were unexpected and insulting to the House,’ he said.

In fact, making such inconsistent and irresponsible comments has become the BNP’s inherent habit, Quader said, asking the BNP leaders to shun making irresponsible remarks and carry out political programmes following democratic norms.