Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday warned that the people of Bangladesh will not tolerate if BNP leader Khaleda Zia again wanted to play with their fate and dare kill them through acts of arson.
“Let me tell you one thing very clearly, don’t touch the people again, don’t play ducks and drakes with the fate of the people, do not dare to kill them by setting fire. People of the country will not tolerate those any more,” she said indicating the BNP chief.
The Prime Minister was addressing a mammoth public rally organised by the district Awami League at newly inaugurated Sheikh Kamal International Stadium here with acting president of Cox’s Bazar district Awami League AK Ahmad Hossain in the chair.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikdar, Deputy Minister for Sports Arif Khan Joy, Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan Papon, MP, Mohammad Iliyas, MP, Deputy Commissioner Moshtaque Ahmed Chowdhury, former student leader Prashanta Bhushan Barua and Abdur Rahman Bodi, MP, also spoke at the rally.
Sheikh Hasina strongly criticised BNP chief Khaleda Zia for her previous stance not to participate in the general election under the AL government.
“You said earlier you won’t participate in any election under the Awami League government as ‘no election will be free and fair’ and you went for movement. And in the name of movement, you killed people. But now you are taking part in the upazila elections under the same government,” she said indicating Khaleda Zia.
The Prime Minister asked for a reply from the BNP leader as to why she had killed people in the past when she is now taking part in the upazila elections under the Awami League government.
“You’ve to answer to the people today why you had killed them? Why you made my sister widow, why you made the children orphan, why you made the parents childless? You’ve to answer these questions,” she said.
Accusing the BNP-Jamaat-Shibir people of resorting to atrocities in the name of their recent movement, she said: “As per the directives of the BNP leader (Khaleda Zia), these hooligans did exactly what the Pakistani occupation forces had done in 1971 – like killing, rape and looting.
Sheikh Hasina said: “They also burnt schools, killed presiding officers, and BGB and police personnel in the name of foiling the general election.”
About the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami, she said: “They are Islami in name only, not in their activities… they’re involved in all sorts of killing, looting and evil deeds. They burnt Holy Quran in the name of Islam.
“You can judge what their love is towards Islam when they burn Holy Quran, kill people and torture the people of other religion. This is not Islam and this is not the teachings of our Prophet (pbuh),” she added.
About the salt farmers of Cox’s Bazar area, the Prime Minister said that her government will take effective steps to ensure that the farmers will produce their salt in a planned way to get the right price for their produce in future.
The government will build a sea aquarium at Penchardwip in Ramu upazila to attract more tourists to the country, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said that the government is upgrading the Cox’s Bazar Airport to international status and the government is going to set up a coal based 1300MW power plant at Maheshkhali to meet the growing demand for electricity here.
She also pledged that in the future the government would build an international standard football stadium here like the cricket stadium.
Briefly mentioning various development activities of the government in the last five years, the Prime Minister said that Awami League always works for the welfare of the country and its people. “We always work for the people and the country, and it is our principal aim.”
Source: UNBConnect