Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday urged her party members to create resistance against the arsonists in every area in an organized manner, taking the people on board.
“Now you will have to build resistance against these arsonists in every area, not only in Dhaka city,” she said while addressing a discussion arranged by Bangladesh Awami League (AL) here in the city.
AL president Sheikh Hasina presided over the discussion held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, marking the Jail Killing Day.
On this day in 1975, the killers of Bangabandhu stormed the Dhaka Central Jail in the early hours and assassinated the four national leaders -- Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, Captain Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman -- who led the Liberation War in the absence of Bangabandhu in 1971 and led the nation to victory.
The premier asked her party men to give the protection of the public lives and property by finding out and handing over the culprits behind arson violence (to the law enforcers).
“If they (BNP-Jamaat) will commit such arson violence in a place, you will have to find out how many BNP or Jamaat men (who are behind it) there and hand them (to the law enforcers),” she said.
She said it is the responsibility of her party to ensure protection of public lives and property so that these can’t be damaged.
“We’ve nothing. We’ve no mentor (Murobbi). We’ve the people of Bangladesh. We will have to move taking them with us,” said the PM.
Hasina asked all her party men to be organized in a manner that not a single culprit behind arson violence goes unpunished. “If anyone is caught red-handed while setting fire (to anything), then you will have to throw him into the same fire. The hand that sets fire to anything will have to be burnt….Tit for tat. If so, they would learn lessons,” she said.
BNP plotting to thwart election:
The prime minister said BNP is plotting to spoil the next general election, though they would fail to do so.
“Their conspiracy is to foil the election. There are hands of many ones here. But our source of power is the people of Bangladesh,” she said adding that the election can’t be spoiled by some handful miscreants.
Noting that there might be attempts to make trouble in various ways ahead of the next general election, Hasina asked AL every leader and activist to remain united and ensure the environment so that the voting rights of the people can be upheld and the people can cast votes peacefully.
Noting that BNP secured only 30 seats out of 300 in the 2008 election, she said now the position of BNP has become week for their misdeeds.
Since BNP fears that it would not get seats (much constituencies) in the election, it is doubtful whether the party would join the election, she said.
“Even if BNP joins the polls, it would come to make nomination business,” she added.
The PM questioned who will be their leader if they run the election. “Who will be made the prime minister? With whom the cabinet will be formed?” she said.
She said BNP acting chairman (Tarique Rahman) is convicted in several cases including the 10-truck arms haul case and money laundering case. Ziaur Rahman had given birth of a black sheep.
“They were directly involved in the August 21 grenade attack. There is no doubt,” she said, citing several remarks Khaleda Zia made at that time.
It is learnt that Tarique Zia earns crores of pounds through gambling and this gambling is his largest source of income, she said.
Find out hoarders, we will take action: PM
The prime minister asked her party leaders alongside the other agencies to find out hoarders of commodities as the government will take action against them.
“I would like to ask our political leaders as well that the hoarders try to cut the pockets of the people by not marketing the commodities despite having enough goods in their stocks. They will have to be found out. We’ll take action against them,” she said.
Noting that the conspiracies are being hatched in many ways against the government, Sheikh Hasina said there is no shortage of any commodity as the production of everything including meat, fish, rice, potato and vegetables went up significantly in the country.
“Who are behind these (misdeeds)? They hoard goods, not marketing these. They would talk against the government, increasing the commodity prices by not marketing these goods,” she said.
The PM said the production didn’t decline at all. “We’ve increased the production of everything including potato, onion, rice and pulse,” she added.
Talking about the jail killing, the AL president said Mostaq (Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad) and Zia (Ziaur Rahman) were behind the jail killing as they had been behind the August 15 carnage. Following the killings, all the goals, ideals and spirit of the Liberation War were destroyed one after another, she added.
“Had Ziaur Rahman been a real freedom fighter, why did he ban Joy Bangla slogan during his regime?” said Sheikh Hasina.
AL general secretary Obaidul Quader, senior leaders Shajahan Khan, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Mirza Azam, and Tajuddin Ahmed’s daughter Simeen Hussain(Rimi) and Syed Nazrul Islam’s daughter Sayeda Zakia Noor Lipi, among others, spoke on the occasion.
A minute’s silence was observed at the beginning of the programme as a mark of respect to all martyrs from the Language Movement, the Liberation War, the August 15, 1975 carnage, the November 3, 1975 Jail Killing, the August 21 grenade attack and other pro-democratic movements.