Awami League, BNP to face-off in B'desh rallies

Dhaka [Bangladesh], Jan 4 (ANI): The ruling party of Bangladesh Awami League and its political arch-rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will face-off in rallies in the Bangladeshi capital tomorrow.

According to the Daily Star, both the parties have called for massive rallies.

The Awami League will celebrate the day tomorrow as 'Victory Day for Democracy'. Apart from the rallies, a "gala" celebration would be held across the country.

While the BNP will be observing 'Democracy Killing Day' and has announced plans to hold a central rally, alongside the scheduled rallies, in Dhaka's Suhrawardy Udyan.

Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed said: "We are yet to secure a police permission for the rally. If we are denied permission in Suhrawardy Udyan, we will hold the rally in front of our Naya Paltan office."

The 2014 parliamentary elections in Bangladesh was marred by controversy as the BNP and most other political parties boycotted the elections after the Hasina government refused to dissolve the parliament during the elections. The BNP termed the victory of Hasina as "farcical and one-sided".

Former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was then put under house arrest. There were also widespread arrests of opposition members, violence and strikes by the opposition, attacks on religious minorities, and extrajudicial killings by the government.

The elections were criticised by the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and the United Nations.

Since the last three decades, Bangladeshi politics have been dominated by Zia and Hasina. (ANI)