Hasina tells Khaleda to stop ‘killing’, resolve problem, if any, thru talks
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday warned Khaleda Zia that she would be forced to take a strong stand if the BNP chairperson did not refrain from killing people in the name of carrying out political movements. “I urge BNP chief Khaleda Zia to stop killing innocent people and sit for talks with the government to resolve problems. Otherwise, we’ll have to take hard steps to save the properties and lives of our people,” Hasina said.
Sheikh Hasina, who is going to be the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the third time, was addressing a mammoth rally in the city’s Suhrawardi Uddyan on the occasion of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s homecoming day.
She asked Khaleda Zia to start fresh talks and shun the path of violence. “If you (Khaleda) have anything to say, please sit across the table. Don’t burden the innocent people with hartal and blockades anymore,” she added.
Hasina, also the Awami League chief, urged the BNP chairperson to put a stop to violence. “How much destructive activities must you unleash? Enough is enough, please stop. If you don’t listen to reason, the Awami League knows how to bring you on the correct path,” she said.
Hasina alleged that Khaleda Zia has let loose her cadres and Jamaat-Shibir activists on the minorities and AL supporters after the Opposition party failed to foil the January 5 parliamentary election. She said that the BNP chief and Jamaat leaders will have to answer to the people why they are unleashing attacks against the country’s minority communities.
She also said that cadres of the BNP-Jamaat combine had unleashed attacks on Awami League leaders and activists during 2001-2008. “But this is 2014 and the Awami League is in power. It is not in the Opposition. Be careful and don’t repeat the past,” Hasina warned the BNP.
She called upon the people to forge massive resistance against the BNP-Jamaat anarchy.
Extending her gratitude to the people of Bangladesh, Hasina said the people want elections, peace and continuation of the democratic process, but Khaleda Zia wants to unleash anarchy to turn Bangladesh into a failed state. She thanked members of law enforcement agencies for keeping law and order under control on the polling day by foiling the BNP-Jamaat’s attempt to create anarchy across the country.
She alleged that the BNP-Jamaat wanted to snatch state power through undemocratic means. However, the people have resisted the Opposition’s evil designs, she said. Referring to the ongoing war crimes trials, Hasina said they will continue and the verdicts would be implemented on the soil of Bangladesh. No one will be able to thwart the process of war crimes trials, she added.
Hasina said Bangladesh is marching towards progress. Khaleda Zia, along with the defeated forces of the Liberation War, will not be able to put any obstacle on the way of progress. She assured students, who suffered enormous difficulties in continuing with their studies amid the tumultuous political situation, that things would soon start to fall in places. “Children have suffered the most in the face of non-stop hartal and blockades. I want to say that schools will start their regular work and the common people will soon return to their vocations. I also urge the people to resist subversive acts carried out by miscreants.”
Mentioning the promises specified in her election manifesto for the 2014 poll, the Premier said the main objective of her government is to elevate the country to the status of a middle-income state by 2021.
Courtesy of The Independent
