Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Thursday that her government would be able to complete the trials of war criminals, like the trial of the Bangabandhu killing case, in order to make the nation free from stigma. “I believe that we will be able to complete trials of war criminals who committed crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971 so as to free the nation from stigma. The BNP cannot save them,” she asserted.
Sheikh Hasina, who is also the president of the ruling Awami League, made the remarks in her introductory speech at a meeting to exchange views with the party’s grassroots leaders at her official residence Ganobhaban.
The meeting was organised to select party candidates for the next general elections, due early next year.
Awami League (AL) leaders from different municipalities and upazilas of Rajshahi, Shariatpur, Netrakona, Natore, Narsingdhi, Jhenaidaha and Satkhira districts attended the meeting.
AL presidium members Kazi Zafarullah, Satish Chandra Roy and former chief whip Abul Hasnat Abdullah, among others, were present at the meeting.
Accusing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia of siding with war criminals, Hasina alleged that BNP-Jamaat activists have been killing people, setting them on fire, in order to save war criminals.
Calling one hartal after another, the BNP-Jamaat combine is carrying out vandalism across the country only to save war criminals, Hasina said, adding, “How come is it possible that they, being Muslims, set people on fire?”
Branding BNP-Jamaat as defeated forces, the Premier alleged that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has no responsibility to the country’s people, and that was why they killed people by setting them ablaze.
She claimed that the Awami League has a responsibility to the people as it is a party of freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives during the Liberation War and saved the country from the Pakistani occupation forces.
“Only those who make sacrifices and endure sufferings can have passion for the country, but those who had captured power all of a sudden don’t love it,” she asserted.
At the same time, she said it has already been proved that no development activity takes place in the country when the defeated forces of the Liberation War come to power.
-With The Independent input
