The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday said that the country is completely in the hands of plunderers.

‘Bangladesh is now completely in the hands of plunderers, Bangladesh is now in the hands of looters and mafias,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said while talking to reporters after laying wreaths at the grave of the party founder Ziaur Rahman at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar marking his 43rd death anniversary.

‘On the one hand, they [the government] are snatching political rights, while on the other, they are destroying the economy as their goal is to turn the country into a failed state. We are fighting against it. Inshallah we will win,’ Fakhrul said.

‘Today we have come to pay tribute to our great leader, the herald of independence, the founder advocate of multi-party democracy in Bangladesh, martyred president Ziaur Rahman at a time when democracy is completely exiled from Bangladesh,’ Fakhrul said.

To establish a one-party system of governance, the ruling Awami League had taken away the voting rights of the people employing tactics, he said, adding that the AL seized power and wanted to introduce one-party rule in a different way.

‘Therefore, on Ziaur Rahman’s death anniversary, we take an oath to speed up the movement that is going on to protect our rights and independence and sovereignty of the country. Through this movement we will establish a people’s government by defeating this terrible monster of a government,’ Fakhrul said.

BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan and Nazrul Islam Khan and vice chairman AZM Zahid Hossain were present, among others, during laying wreaths at Ziaur Rahman’s grave.

Later, BNP senior leaders distributed food among poor people in different parts of the city marking the day.