In the wake of tension rising over planned political rallies by Awami League and BNP to mark the January 5 general election, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) today said it would not allow holding of counter rallies on that day.

Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia's comments come on the backdrop of political rivals ruling Awami League and BNP declaring for holding rallies at the same venue with contrasting views to January 5 – the day that heralds the second anniversary of last general elections, reports Prothom Alo.

READ more:  AL, BNP plan rallies at same venue

"Both parties submitted their applications to us," the commissioner said as reported by the daily. "We will talk with them if they want. But we won't allow conflicting programmes."

Both the parties announced to hold different programmes at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on Tuesday (January 5) at the same time. BNP will hold its rally marking the day as "democracy killing day," while AL with the view of "the day of democracy saving."

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Police sought reports from Ramna deputy commissioner regarding the situation. DMP officials will take initiative after receiving report from him, the daily reports.

The last time these two rival parties called for holding programmes for the election anniversary with contrasting views ended up in three months of violence and deaths of over a 100 people last year.