Dhaka: ‘The fifteenth amendment to the constitution is the ghost of failed Baksal and it instigated the rise of dreadful disorder,’ said Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

One-party political party system, Baksal, was introduced by Awami League in 1975 by banning all political parties and nationalising all mills and factories.

‘By this 15th amendment, democracy was buried and a tower of brutal authoritarian rule has been built in that place,’ she added in a statement received by NTV Online in Dhaka on Thursday.

She delivered the statement marking ‘Democracy Killing Day’, said BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

She said, ‘Awami League on 25 January 1975 introduced Baksal by scraping democratic system to stay in power for long years. To do this, they totally ignored the multi-party democratic system and forcefully introduced inhuman and medieval Baksal system by fourth amendment to the constitution. That system abdicated all fundamental rights of people by destroying freedom of speech, movement, organisation etc.’