Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Latif Siddique will be removed from cabinet through due process.
“The government is not in trouble but he (Latif Siddique) is in trouble for his comments. He will pay the price, not my government,” she added.
The prime minister was speaking a press conference at her official Ganabhaban residence in Dhaka. She briefed the media on the outcome of her recent tour to New York to attend the 69th United Nations General Assembly.
Apart from highlighting the success of the visit, the prime minister said world leaders acknowledged Bangladesh’s continuous progress in different sectors of the socio-economic and political arena.
About Latif Siddique’s termination from the party, the premier said, “Anyone who speaks imprudently is not acceptable. Action will be taken against him both at a government and a party level.”
Awami League working committee will take the decision whether he will remain in the party post or not, she added.
Ruling out any negotiation with Bangladesh Nationalist Party on political issues, the prime minister said the people of the country were not in the grip of any big political crisis for which they would have to sit across the table with the killers.
“In the past we tried our best to reach a political settlement,” she added.
About BNP’s threat of a tougher movement after Eid-ul-Azha, the prime minister said any destructive activity of BNP and Jamaat would be dealt sternly with the support of the people.
About the recently published book of A K Khandakar, the prime minister said the publisher of the book along with its author should take responsibility of spreading false information.
All recent books containing the falsehood on the Liberation War are being produced from the same place and person, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said she was never afraid for her life. “If I would have been afraid, I would not have joined politics after the gruesome attack on my family in 1975 when the killers didn’t even spare my little brother.”
“The killers haven’t change their attitude and they are still out to perish me, destroy democracy and turn Bangladesh into a land of terror. There can be no discussion with them,” Sheikh Hasina said.
“I returned home fully conscious about the risks. If I would not have returned home you would have got democracy,” she added.
Responding to a question, the prime minister said the government opted for providing more gas for fertiliser production. As a result, she said, power generation had declined to a nominal extent causing recent load-shedding.
The prime minister said she had urged her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to take initiative for Nepal-Bangladesh transit.
She also said, “I urged the UN to make Bangla an official language of the organisation”.
“We also celebrated the 40th anniversary of UN membership of Bangladesh,” she added.
Sheikh Hasina greeted the Hindus and Muslims on their respective religious festivals and prayed for the well being of hajj pilgrims.
Source: Prothom Alo
