Staff Correspondent
The Cabinet came down heavily on BNP leaders, including Chairperson Khaleda Zia and took serious note of the leaked audio clips of Khaleda Zia where she was heard instructing party leaders to unleash violence on the streets.
Several ministers told The Daily Observer that the audio conversation was played before Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the regular Cabinet meeting on Monday.
However, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu rejected the information that the ministers informed earlier.
When asked at a press conference held at the Secretariat, Inu said that no audio clips were played in the Cabinet meeting and no ministers made any comment in this connection.
Meanwhile, several ministers from ruling Awami League and its allies said that after listening to the purported audio clips, the Prime Minister reportedly said, "She (Khaleda) has indeed ordered violence."
Seeking anonymity a Cabinet member said that the Prime Minister and the cabinet members listened to the audio clips after the regular agenda were discussed.
Audio files of Khaleda's purported telephone conversations with BNP leaders during a party rally four years ago have been put up on YouTube from an account called Bangla Leaks.
The conversations are full with Khaleda's "instructions" to her party leaders and activists.
The headlines on the audio files claim them to be evidences of Khaleda's involvement in recent violence. Some of the media had run stories on the issue on Monday.
"Senior ministers along with others demanded arrest of those who were involved in troublemaking at the orders of Khaleda Zia. But the Prime Minister said nothing on the matter," a Minister said. According to the intelligence agency sources, BNP had organised a gathering of freedom fighters on December 18 in 2011. Police action to disrupt the gathering at the Institution of Engineers was followed by clashes in Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh.
One person died in a bomb explosion in Dhaka and another passenger in Sylhet was burnt to death when a bus was set on fire. Many vehicles were vandalised or set on fire.
Four of the five audio files containing snatches of Khaleda's conversation with BNP leaders related to events of that gathering of freedom fighters.