Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ridiculed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s promise of introducing a new form government if elected to power.
“Earlier, she (Khaleda) had created Hawa Bhaban (the political office of the BNP chief that came to be associated with alleged administrative manipulations).
“She will be back to corruption, terrorism and looting by opening a new building (like Hawa Bhaban) if her party, the BNP, is voted to power,” Hasina commented.
The Awami League President made the remarks when she addressed a gathering of party supporters after inaugurating the 500-bed Mugda General Hospital at Khilgaon, in Dhaka, on Friday.
She appealed for people’s unity against the corrupt and urged them to bring her party back to power to maintain the “flow of development”.
Earlier, at an Iftar meet on Thursday, Khaleda had asked her party activists to prepare for a tougher agitation after Eid-ul-Fitr to press for a caretaker government to oversee the parliamentary elections.
“We’ll form a new type of government in future through fair elections. We won’t compromise with injustice and corruption,” the opposition chief had said.
Responding to Khaleda’s statement, Hasina said: “They’ll oppress women and undermine the country’s independence and sovereignty.”
The Awami League’s Sabujbagh and Khilgaon units organised the rally on the Mugda General Hospital ground.
Seeking support to execute the verdicts of the war crimes tribunal, the Prime Minister said: “The judgments are finally coming in. The souls of the martyrs (of the Liberation War) will now rest in peace. Bangladesh is being freed of a stigma. What can be a greater achievement?”
She said: “We promised that we will try (the war criminals). We’ve kept our promise.”
About development, Hasina said: “There has been progress in many sectors. Several projects are still underway. Others will be taken up in future. The Awami League must be voted to power again to accomplish them.”
She castigated her arch political rival for the article published in the US-based Washington Times in her name.
The Prime Minister said: “She (Khaleda) has written the article in the Jew-owned newspaper against our garment industry. She wants to rob those who work in garment factories of their livelihood.”
The article published on Jan 30 under the caption ‘Zia: The thankless role in saving democracy in Bangladesh’ urged the US government to revoke the GSP (Generalised System of Preference) facility for Bangladesh that gave several products duty-free access to the American market.
Amid severe criticism following the cancellation of the facility last month, Khaleda disowned the write-up. She told Parliament that she did not write it.
After Khaleda’s denial, The Washington Times Executive Editor David S Jackson told bdnews24.com that the newspaper published the article after being sure that it was from Khaleda.
Source: Bd news24
