Dhaka: Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahabub-ul-Alam Hanif today said BNP wants national unity to protect militants as the party is patronizing extremist forces in the country.

‘The BNP has been promoting extremist religious political parties with its direct and indirect patronage,’ he told a discussion in the city on the occasion of the third founding anniversary of United Islamic Party in Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in Dhaka, reports BSS.

Food Minister Advocate Quamrul Islam, among others, addressed the meeting with United Islamic Party Chairman Maulana Md. Ismail Hossain in the chair.

Hanif said the government is carrying out extensive drives to root out militancy from the country while the BNP is creating confusions by giving objectionable statements about the efforts to combat militancy.

‘Such statements of the BNP have proved their link to militancy,’ he added.

Hanif said the BNP-Jamaat is hatching conspiracies to hamper the development process in the country by patronizing the militant forces.