Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that her government enacted several laws to prevent oppression and torture in keeping with the ideals of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founder.
In a statement issued on Tuesday ahead of the International Day Against Torture to be observed on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the government had taken several steps to curb crimes.
The statement said her government had passed the Women and Children Act while it was in power in 1996 as part of that effort.
She said that the government was all for freedom of expression and guaranteed the basic rights of the people.
Hasina recalled the BNP-Jamaat term, pointing out that 18 journalists, including Humayun Kabir Balu and Manik Saha, had been killed then.
During the BNP-Jamaat rule, the statement said, the country had been gripped by chaos with terrorists fanning out in all directions.
She said militants such as Shaykh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai as well as other terrorist groups had received state patronage at that time.
Hasina also said that BNP-Jamaat backed terrorists had killed principal Gopal Krishna Muhuri in his house.
The Prime Minister recalled the grenade attack on her in 2004 and a series of bomb blasts across the country in 2005.
Hasina said that the BNP-Jamaat government had killed many innocent people in guise of Operation Clean Heart.
She accused the BNP-Jamaat government, which was in power for five years, and an army-backed caretaker regime that stayed on for two years, of having killed thousands of Awami League leaders, activists and supporters.
She mentioned the present Home Minister, MK Alamgir, and Awami League leader AFM Bahauddin Nasim as victims of brutal torture.
She said that people of the country had not forgotten the misrule and oppression unleashed by the BNP-Jamaat terrorist groups before and after 2001.
Recalling Bangabandhu’s efforts for world peace, she said that he was awarded the Julio-Curie Peace Prize for his contribution.
She said that the Awami League had always worked for people’s welfare, following in the footsteps of the father of the nation.
The Prime Minister mentioned that in 2011 she had placed the ‘People’s empowerment’ formula in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for the sake of world peace and the cause of democracy.
She said that her formula was adopted in the UN by 193 countries.
Hasina said that the present government was committed to establishing peace in the country and urged people to guard against destabilising designs.
Sympathising with the world’s oppressed people, she called on to everyone to step forward and put an end to oppression and torture in the world.
Source: Bd news24
