Delwar talks of death threat to call it quits
Hafiz defends standing committee's decision
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| BNP leader Khandaker Delwar Hossain talks to newspersons on his Birdem Hospital bed in the capital yesterday. Photo: STAR |
He claimed that the threat was for forcing him to resign from his current party post and to exclude the detained party chairperson from the leadership.
Meanwhile, Maj (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, who had been appointed as the new secretary general of the party by a national standing committee (NSC) meeting on Monday night, categorically said at a news briefing in former finance minister Saifur Rahman's house yesterday that those who do not accept the decision made by the highest policy making forum of the organisation also do not have the right to claim themselves as the bearers of BNP politics.
With the rivaling speeches, BNP is now formally divided in two factions, although both the factions seem to believe that the cloud of chaos will be cleared soon as they hope Khaleda Zia will send her message regarding the matter through her lawyer, who is scheduled to meet her today.
"They came into my house on Sunday night and told me that I would have to agree to resign from my post, accept the new chairperson and secretary general of their choice, and would have to join Monday's standing committee meeting, or else the lives of my family members and my own would be in danger," Delwar Hossain told journalists from a hospital bed in Birdem about the threateners, while terming the NSC meeting held in Saifur's house as illegal and unethical by the standard of the party constitution.
Claiming himself as the legitimate secretary general of the party he said the party is united under the leadership of Chairperson Khaleda Zia, and urged party leaders and workers not to be confused by some leaders' 'anti-party activities'.
Meanwhile, in reply to a question from reporters on whether there is any post of an acting chairperson in the party constitution, Saifur Rahman and Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said a party constitution does not always contain solutions to every situation and it needs to be changed from time to time.
Some party leaders who are not necessarily actively involved in the unfolding drama in BNP said the new line up of leadership picked by the NSC will end up dividing the party as Khaleda loyalists rejected the decision saying that the NSC meeting held in Saifur Rahman's residence itself is illegal, since according to the party constitution only the chairperson has the authority to convene such a meeting.
Some NSC members led by Saifur Rahman on Monday night held a meeting which declined to ratify the expulsion of Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Ashraf Hossain by the now detained chairperson of the party, right before her arrest.
The meeting also appointed Saifur as the acting chairperson of the party although there is no mention of such a post in the party constitution, and removed Khaleda appointed secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, from the post, replacing him with Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed as the acting secretary general.
Saifur Rahman, who himself has been sick for a long time, said the NSC decided to remove Delwar from his post on grounds of the latter's physical ailments.
Meanwhile, Delwar firmly said, "I have nothing to lose. BNP is a peoples' party which nobody will be able to divide through conspiracies."
Delwar, who is also an NSC member, said only the chairperson of the party may call an NSC meeting and there is no post of an acting chairperson in the party constitution.
"It has been a blessing from the almighty Allah that I was exempted from the compulsory presence at the meeting as I was sick," he said adding that he would be forced to sign on to the meeting's decisions if he was present there.
Hinting at Bhuiyan loyalists who attended the meeting in Saifur's residence, Delwar said, "They will be identified by the people as renegades."
"Khaleda Zia appointed me as the secretary general and I will try to uphold her faith in me even with my life," said Delwar from the hospital bed.
About the threat to his life, Delwar said he was aghast to see that a group of people were dictating him to resign from the post of the party secretary general.
"Never before did I face such a heinous and nakedly thuggish threat," he said adding that every professional service has a boundary which nobody should cross.
He also drew the attention of the president, chief adviser, army chief, inspector general of police, the chief justice, and other justices to the threat on the lives of his family members and his own.
When asked who threatened him and his family, the former chief whip of the parliament said, "I don't want to disclose their names yet but I have identified them, and I will tell everything if the government forms a high power judicial inquiry committee to investigate the matter."
Referring to the NSC meeting held in Saifur's house, Delwar said leaders who were present at the meeting planned to destroy the party and Khaleda's leadership.
Meanwhile, at the news briefing in his own house, Saifur Rahman, the NSC appointed new acting chairperson of the party, called for unity of the entire party for winning the upcoming election, and said a political party cannot be crippled merely for a person.
"We cannot sit idle as the election is getting near," he said during the briefing, adding that they will consider the greater interest of the country and the party, and not of any individual.
He said it is not important who leads the party today as pushing the party forward is the main agenda now, while Hafiz said the NSC is the highest policy making forum of the party and it took a unanimous decision to bring changes in the leadership.
Later, Saifur and Hafiz visited the grave of the founder of the party, late president Ziaur Rahman, at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and placed floral wreaths there, followed by their loyalists.
Meanwhile, Birg Gen (retd) Hannan Shah, adviser to party chief Khaleda Zia, said the way the posts of leadership were hijacked in BNP is unprecedented in the world history.
"Party leaders and workers don't support and will never accept such unconstitutional activities," he said while talking to reporters in his Mohakhali residence in the capital.
He also put out a call to Saifur Rahman for bringing both the factions of the party to a negotiation table for the sake of maintaining a single BNP.
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