Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government will implement all the verdicts of those accused of crimes against humanity and free the nation of curses. She was addressing a public rally this afternoon at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on the occasion of the Jail Killing Day.
The prime minister said, “I freed the people of curses by trying the killers of 15 August 1975. The nation will again be freed of curses with the implementation of the war crimes trial verdicts.”
She said, “We promised to try the war criminals and we have done so. Despite pressure, the sentences have been carried out. All the war criminals will be tried on the soil of Bangladesh.”
Sheikh Hasina compared Jamaat-e-Islami and Khaleda Zia with a snake trying to swallow a frog. She said that Khaleda was neither being able to swallow Jamaat nor discard it.
The prime minister said Bangladesh will reach 50 years of independence in 2021. The country would become a mid-income country by then. Bangladesh is going forward and will continue to do so.
Sheikh Hasina raised the question, if Ziaur Rahman declared independence, how did he rehabilitate the killers of 1975? She said that Ziaur Rahman had unlawfully grabbed power.
Khaleda’s Zia’s curse is our blessing: Addressing Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina asked, if the government was illegal, how has Saber Hossain Chowdhury been elected to IPU? She referred to congressmen being elected uncontested to the US Congress and asked, has the US government ever been unlawful?
The prime minister said, “Khaleda Zia had said in 2006 that I would never be able to become the prime minister or the leader of the opposition. Ironically, she is not even the opposition leader now.” Hasina laughed and said, “Actually Khaleda Zia’s curse is our blessing.”
Khaleda can destroy, not build roads: Referring to BNP’s political uprising and movement prior to the 5 January election, the prime minister said, “Khaleda’s cadres set fire to buses and killed people. Even cows were not spared. She destroyed roads and damaged railway lines. Khaleda Zia may not be able to build roads, but she can destroy roads in the name of the movement.”
She said that when BNP came to power the country was a failed state, rife with corruption, killings and coups. She said Khaleda Zia was upset about being out of power as she could not carry out her corruption.
Source: Prothom Alo