BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the government's bell of departure has started ringing. Their time is over. Still there is time to hand over power to a caretaker government.

He was speaking at a demonstration in front of the party's central office at Nayapaltan in the capital on Saturday afternoon.

The demonstration was organised by Dhaka City North BNP in protest against the verdict announced by High Court upholding the punishment of party standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and Dhaka City North BNP convener Aman Ullah Aman in corruption cases filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against them during the Fakhruddin-Moinuddin led caretaker government.

Mirza Fakhrul alleged that the Awami League government wanted to remove opposition political leaders from politics by upholding their punishment in cases.

"This process began through punishing BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. They want to make goals in the empty field of election keeping the leaders in prisons. But, their expectations will never be fulfilled as people have risen against their atrocities. The government will not be able to suppress the democratic struggle of people by punishing the opposition leaders," he said.