Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday directed local administrations and law enforcement agencies to continue drives against those involved in firebomb attacks on transports and vandalism during general strikes and countrywide blockade enforced by Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led opposition alliance since January 5.
The BNP would not have the strength even in future to oust the Awami League-led government, she said while addressing a video conference with divisional commissioner of Rajshahi and deputy commissioners of Natore, Chapainawabganj, Chandpur, Feni and Brahmanbaria.
‘The BNP leader [Khaleda Zia] has finally surrendered to the court and returned home although she had declared she would not leave her Gulshan office unless the government is overthrown. They will not have the strength in future to topple the government,’ Sheikh Hasina said during the video conference held after the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat.
Superintendents of police, district-level officials from various departments and local representatives also interacted with the prime minister.
Sheikh Hasina asked the deputy commissioners and the police superintendents to make sure that the persons behind the arson attacks in last three months were brought to justice at any cost.
She mentioned that the BNP-Jamaat alliance gained nothing, but killed around 150 people, including women and children, by throwing petrol bombs on public transports during the indefinite blockade called by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on January 5, 2015 to press for fresh elections under a non-party caretaker administration.
Hasina said BNP-Jamaat in a similar way wanted to obstruct holding of the January 5 parliamentary elections in 2014.
She thanked local administrators and police officials for maintaining order during the blockade and strikes across the country and hoped that a normal situation would prevail from now on.
She asked the deputy commissioners of each district and superintendents of police to identify all those involved in the firebomb attacks and bring them to book.
The prime minister asked the deputy commissioners, responsible for coordinating the government development programmes at the field level, to speed up development activities so that they could make up the losses incurred during the blockade and strikes.
The field-level officials claimed that the situation was now under their control.
Hasina said the government would gradually introduce district budget system so that the allocations were made as per local demands.
The cabinet secretary, Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, moderated the conference online.
Source: New Age
