Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizens Party (NCP) and opposition chief whip, questioned the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) role in Hefazat-e-Islam’s May 5 movement. Speaking on Tuesday at the Institute of Diploma Engineers in Dhaka, he said the BNP should have participated in the movement. The remarks came during a discussion and documentary screening organized by the NCP-backed National Olama Alliance titled “Shapla Massacre; A Decade of Impunity.”

Nahid Islam stated that the mass killing had been portrayed as Hefazat’s rampage and that the group was labeled as terrorists and extremists. He argued that the lack of accountability for the Shapla massacre led to another mass killing in 2024, adding that many contributed to the circumstances behind both incidents.

He further commented that friendship cannot be built by erecting barbed-wire fences and killing people along the border, warning that the people of the country would one day remove those fences.