Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alluded to former Grameen Bank managing director Muhammad Yunus to say he was agitated by the loss of his ‘petty post’ and ran a propaganda campaign against the government.
She said this in Parliament on Wednesday while responding to an MP’s question on whether ‘any superpower’ was behind Bangladesh’s exclusion from the US’ renewed list of countries with Generalised System of Preference (GSP) facility.
“Not any superpower but some domestic evil forces ran a propaganda campaign against Bangladesh when their interests were hurt.
“Unfortunately, one of them was Bangladesh’s prime minister and the leader of the opposition. That person is not in any of those positions now, but leads a political party,” Hasina said, hinting at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Hasina said the political leader had written to the US government suggesting the suspension of Bangladesh’s GSP facilities.
“That person also wrote an article in a little-known Washington-based newspaper to tarnish Bangladesh’s image.”
Without naming anyone, Hasina said, “Another person did the same for a post. A bank’s MD, after losing his position following a legal battle, became so furious that he started spreading canards against the government.”
E-mails, made public recently, between Yunus and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton showed that he had desperately solicited the latter’s help to regain his control over Grameen Bank.
“The BNP, Jamaat and that bank’s sacked MD tried many times to damage Bangladesh’s image, but they failed to thwart its progress,” Hasina said.
“They also tried to stop the Padma Bridge construction without any reason. But they have failed in that too. We have started building this bridge on our own.”
Citing media reports on lobbyists being recruited in the US to stop the war crimes trials in Bangladesh, she said, “The Jamaat and BNP are up with their attempts to smear the country’s image by spreading canards and hiring lobbyists.”
She said these ‘traitors were determined to carry out their plans anyhow’. “Still, we have tried the war criminals and executed the (court’s) verdicts.”
The prime minister said she had also received phone calls from some influential people from abroad who asked her not to execute the war criminals’ verdicts.
She reiterated her position on continuing with the trials of the 1971 war criminals despite all hurdles.
Hasina said ‘wheeler-dealers were not patriots and lacked a sense of responsibility’. “They only know how to hurt Bangladesh through looting, corruption, murders and plotting.”
“I hope they won’t be able to do that in future because Bangladesh’s people are now more aware.”
Returning to the issue of GSP facilities, the prime minister said during her party’s tenure in power US investment in Bangladesh had increased.
“The US should remember this. Their total investment in Bangladesh rose to $1.2 billion during Awami League government’s tenure from $25 million in 1996.”
“We had created that opportunity for them and now the US has an investment around $2 billion in Bangladesh.”
She, however, added the lack of GSP facilities was not hurting the country’s readymade garment sector.
She said, without any GSP facility, Bangladesh was currently exporting goods to the US markets by paying tax of around $850 million annually.
“If we had the GSP, we would’ve got benefits of only around $25 million by exporting a small volume of goods.”
The GSP was not very lucrative for Bangladesh, but it was very important for the country’s image, she added.
“We possibly could have improved. We were obstructed, but could not be stopped. We have managed to continue the development.”
Hasina expressed the hope that Bangladesh would get the preferential trade facility back by implementing the action plan provided by the US in 2013.
The Obama administration revoked the GSP trade benefits in mid-2013 after the Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen Fashions fire, which left more than 1,200 people dead.
It renewed the facility for 122 countries, excluding Bangladesh, last month.
The US said Bangladesh needed to do more to support the readymade garment workers’ rights and fight unfair labour practices to regain the benefit.
The prime minister on Wednesday said her government in three phases informed the US of the progresses in implementing the action plan.
“The US government has expressed satisfaction and urged to continue the ongoing initiatives.”
She said much of the action plan had been implemented, while significant progress was made in other areas.
Hasina added that, as part of the plan, factory inspectors were appointed, 3,375 of 3,685 garment factories were inspected and 34 of them were shut down.
Among other measures, the government nearly finalised the rules of the Labour Act and took initiatives to formulate the EPZ Labour Act.
Source: Bd news24
Hasina is a vindictive person seeking only her position and power.
She is destroying Bangladesh bit by bit unless we the people stop her.
PM Hasina is out to destroy the ccountry and also the people especially those that have served the nation selflessly and brought much glory to it. Every one predicts that the dark night will pass soon, perhaps it will one day but the thing is it is proving to be too long and too painful.