BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman. File Photo

DHAKA, June 25, 2025 (BSS) - BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman today said Bangladesh was turned into a totalitarian state during the “Awami fascist regime”.

He made the comment in a message on the eve of UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

 Tarique Rahman said the international day declared by the United Nations in support of the oppressed is very important as its significance is immense. 

He said although the subordinate nations gradually gained independence immediately after the World War II, violence and conflict have not stopped all over the world. 

Bloodthirstiness has continued to cause terrible violence and bloodshed in countries, he said, adding due to this, countless people around the world are being killed, injured and maimed. 

In various countries, autocratic regimes are carrying out terrible repression and oppression against their opponents with boundless anger, he said, adding that the lives and property of citizens in those countries are under serious threat.

The BNP acting chairman said that under the tyranny of dictators, people of opposing views have to spend years in indescribable imprisonment in false cases including disappearances and murders. 

“The terrible Awami fascist misrule has been going on in Bangladesh for almost 16 years, imprisoning democracy,” he said.

Tarique Rahman said during the Awami fascist period, Bangladesh was turned into a totalitarian state. All kinds of civil liberties, including freedom of expression, were taken away, he added. 

Stating that the freedom of the press was chained by various old laws, the BNP acting chairman said that the symbol of democracy of this country, BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, was unjustly sentenced and imprisoned in false cases. 

“The barbaric Awami government mercilessly obstructed the proper treatment of the dying national leader. The entire country was speechless, bound in fear and apprehension,” he said.

Whenever BNP protested the undemocratic and intolerant behavior of the fascist government, the pro-AL “thugs” would have been unleashed, he mentioned. 

“The existence of ordinary people, including women and children, was endangered because the terrorists of the Awami government, established a culture of impunity by uprooting humanity,” he said.

Only in a democratic society the overall rights of people are ensured, he said, adding that although the nation is free from fascism, the process of building institutions of democracy and fair practice has not yet begun.

Regarding the mob, Tarique Rahman said, now a violent madness called 'mob justice' has become the enemy of the humanity. 

It will endanger the environment for building a democratic culture and so the one-dimensional state is not reintroduced, democracy must be kept dynamic and its continuity must be continued, he added.  

“We must build the great tradition of humanity, justice, rule of law and free and fair elections. For this reason, it is very important to maintain the unwavering unity of democratic forces,” he said.

Tarique Rahman also expressed his sympathy to all the oppressed people of the world, including Bangladesh, on this day.

He called for an end to various adversities on the path of the oppressed to get justice. 

“It is possible to defeat the cruel oppressor groups and dictators only through the united efforts of all the democracy-loving people of the world, inspired by humanity," he said.