Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Saturday, urged the opposition leader in Parliament, Khaleda Zia, to come to the talks table to resolve the current political stalemate. “Respond to our offer of talks and shun the politics of killings,” Hasina said at a meeting with the grassroots leaders of Barguna district unit of Awami League, at her Ganobhaban residence. Accusing BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia of killing people in the name of movement for saving the war criminals, the Prime Minister said: “Whatever plot you hatch, you cannot save the war criminals. They must be tried here and on the soil of the country.”
“For the sake of the nation and its people, return to healthy politics,” she said. “You (Khaleda) should have depended on the country’s people, instead of killing them, and sit for dialogue with the government, to break the impasse,” the PM added.
Lashing out at the opposition for not postponing the May 4 rally in the capital, the Prime Minister said she had thought the opposition would call off its rally and they will donate the money spent on holding the rally to the victims of Savar catastrophe.
“But, unfortunately, they are determined to hold the rally. They will now hold rally and slam the government and unleash destructive activities across the country. But, ultimately it won’t bring any benefit to the country and its people,” she said.
The Prime Minister also lambasted Khaleda for enforcing hartal on the day when the war crimes verdict was pronounced, to obstruct the trial process.
Stressing the urgent need of democracy in the country for its smooth progress, the Prime Minister said: “If anybody comes to power through rigged elections, he/she will have no accountability to the people and that’s why democracy is needed for the country.”
Referring to the Hefazat-e-Islam’s Dhaka blockade programme, she said, “We have already met most of their demands, but, still they carried out their destructive programmes. This is unfortunate.”
Accusing Khaleda Zia of unleashing a reign of terror in the country during her tenure, the Prime Minister said that after assuming power, the Awami League has freed the country from terrorists. “When the Awami League is in power, people get something, but, when the BNP goes to power, the people get nothing except terror, militancy and corruption,” she said.
Claiming the 2008 general election as free and fair, Hasina said several thousands of local government elections were held in a free and fair manner under her own management, and nobody raised any question regarding those polls.
The party chief also asked her party leaders and workers to create public opinion about the violence perpetrated by the opposition to protect the war criminals. “You have to work for the welfare of the people by further strengthening the organisation,” she added.
Sheikh Hasina also mentioned her government’s success in the fields of agriculture, education, economy, health, information technology, food security and women empowerment.
She said her government has made massive development in the country’s southern region which was neglected for a long time. “We have taken steps to restore the lost glory of the southern region as a granary,” she said. Among others, AL Presidium Members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Abdul Latif Siddiqui and Kazi Jafarullah, joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif and AL organizing secretaries BM Mozammel and Ahmed Hossain, information and research secretary advocate Afzal Hossain, office secretary Abdul Mannan Khan and former chief whip of the Jatiya Sangsad Abul Hasnat Abdullah were also present, during the meeting.
-With The Independent input
