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NEWS ANALYSIS

BNP's war heroes & shocking silence

Martin Swapan Pandey
So the BNP shocks the nation's collective conscience once again. The latest blow comes by way of a statement from the party Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed. Sunday's statement seeks to slam in the face of the freedom fighters who are still alive (including those in the BNP) and to insult the supreme sacrifice of those who laid down their lives, fighting.
The party declares that the people getting maimed at the hands of government agencies during the ongoing blockade would be honoured as "freedom fighters of this generation" once the BNP came to power. The party would "honour"
those killed by law enforcers as "national heroes" and compensate and rehabilitate their children and other family members.
One wonders if the BNP is really ignorant of the meanings of freedom fighters and national heroes or if it is trying to fool someone. But if the party is indeed in search of some heroes of our time, it may think of the truckers who have died while carrying food for people across the country, including the BNP top brass in Dhaka, defying the violent blockade.
We want to make it clear that those who lost their lives at the hands of law enforcers over the past few weeks were our fellowmen as well. We don't suggest their lives were any less valuable to themselves and their families. On the contrary, we protest their killings and demand justice.
But what feels like a kick in the teeth is BNP's silence over the deaths of about 80 innocent men, women and children in arson and bomb attacks carried out allegedly by the opposition men. Does the BNP deem these lives so less valuable that they don't even deserve to be mentioned and grieved for? Haven't they, too, left behind their wives and kids and parents who are in need of compensation and rehabilitation?
How can a party be so biased, insensitive and remorseless and yet seeks power to govern us? We deserve better from our political parties (that includes the Awami League).
BNP's allegation in the statement that law enforcers have been cooking up crossfire stories to cover up killings has grounds, like it had in the past. And it's fine that the party would try those responsible for killing its leaders and activists. But who is going to try those who killed the innocent people? Khaleda Zia and her party have all along denied any involvement in these killings. So for what mysterious reason wouldn't the BNP hold trial of these murders? Is it because its own hands are red from the blood of the innocents?
There is another thing. Are we to interpret from the statement that the BNP is calling on the party men, believed by many to be behind attacks on innocent people since early January, to continue what they are doing? Does this mean we are to see more bloodshed in the coming days?
Such a call couldn’t have come at a more desperate time when blockade and shutdowns have cost so many lives, caused the economy to bleed bad and sent panic down the spines of about 15 lakh young kids taking the SSC exams. But why this call after so much bragging about overwhelming success of the blockade and hartals? Is it because the party leadership is seeing that its programmes are losing public support? Or is it dawning on its top leaders that the blockade and hartals are losing their meanings?
The BNP should know when meaning is lost, only words remain.