, Aug. 16 -- BNP senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan on Saturday said the 2008 national election in Bangladesh was neither free nor fair, nor impartial, claiming that it was an orchestrated and controlled one.

"I am compelled to say that the 2008 election was not free, fair, or impartial. It was a planned, rigged and controlled election," he said while addressing a discussion.

Dr Moyeen, a BNP Standing Committee member, said the 1/11 government in 2008 had an unethical plan to depoliticise Bangladesh. "Although that plan eventually failed, an election was held with the help of certain quarters and it was portrayed internationally as free and fair, but in reality, it was not."

He said different types of propaganda were there at the time ...