BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged that the government has once again started the 'old game' of arresting and harassing BNP leaders and activists to clear the field before the next general election.

"The government is playing the old game again, increasing the level of torture like harassment and the arrest of BNP leaders and activists in false and ghost cases and raiding their houses. The government is now desperate to eliminate BNP from the country,” he said

Speaking at a press conference at BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan Office, Fakhrul said the government has now taken a project to make the field empty by throwing BNP leaders and activists out of their areas before the election.

“This time it won’t be possible to do as the country’s people and BNP have taken to the streets. The ongoing movement will reach its final stage and undoubtedly this government will have to accept defeat through a mass uprising,” he warned.

Fakhrul alleged that the BNP leaders and activists have been shown arrested in fresh cases when they get bail from the courts in the old cases.

He said their many leaders of the party, including voluntary affairs secretary Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu, were rearrested at the jail gate when they walked out of the prison on bail.

"These are their old games. Here again, there is a matter of business of making money by implicating in cases. In other words, the whole system has become a repressive one and it has become a police state,” the BNP leader observed.

He said they feared that the government will plan different untoward incidents to arrest the opposition leaders and activists by shifting the blame onto them.

“Look at the incident in Panchagarh (where a BNP leader was arrested in connection with sectarian violence). This is not an isolated incident. BNP men are being made accused in different places by carrying out such incidents and they are being arrested and their houses are being raided,” Fakhrul said.

He alleged that their party’s many leaders, including senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, have been going through inhumane torture in jail.

The BNP leader claimed that Rizvi fell sick seriously in Keraniganj Jail as he has been long been staying there in false and politically-motivated cases. “He has been subjected to political vengeance.”

He voiced deep concern that the government and the jail authorities are not taking steps to ensure proper treatment of Rizvi, who has been suffering from various serious diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure, lung complications, and heart disease.

Mentioning that Rizvi was shot in the chest and legs during the anti-Ershad movement, Fakhrul said he cannot walk without the help of others while climbing stairs.

"He (Rizvi) has to move on a stick. In such a situation, he is being transported standing in a prison van for a long way from Keraniganj prison to the court in Old Dhaka. Ailing Rizvi Ahmed is brought to court almost every day amid extreme risk

This is a violation of human rights. It is a reflection of the will of the ruling party," he observed.