BNP Pledges to Review NEIR If Elected: Mobile Business Community Claims

The protesting Mobile Business Community Bangladesh (MBCB) has claimed that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will review the National Identity Equipment Register (NEIR) if it comes to power. According to the group, “Tarique Rahman has assured reforms to NEIR if BNP is elected.”

However, no such clear assurance has been officially confirmed by the BNP Chairperson’s Office. The office has only stated that the BNP Chairperson met with representatives of mobile business owners and listened to their concerns.

Sources said that several members of Mobile Business Community Bangladesh (MBCB), who have been continuing protests along with their families, staged a sit-in in front of the BNP Chairperson’s Office in Gulshan on Sunday afternoon, January 18. As the issue caught attention while entering the office premises, BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman got down from his vehicle and spoke to them. He later invited a four-member delegation for an unscheduled meeting.

Those who attended the meeting included Arifur Rahman, central leader of MBCB and President of the Chattogram Mobile Traders’ Association; Faisal Azad, General Secretary of MBCB Jamuna Unit; Saiful Islam Rubel, Organising Secretary; and Masudur Rana, a mobile phone retailer from Jamuna Future Park.

Speaking to the media, Arifur Rahman said that they had been demonstrating with their families outside the BNP Chairperson’s Office in the afternoon. At that time, upon noticing them while entering the office, Tarique Rahman stepped out of his car and invited the four representatives inside for a meeting. The meeting began shortly after 6:00 pm. During the discussion, a document was handed over to Tarique Rahman, who then assigned one of the representatives to analyse it.

DBTech/HM/BTO/OR