Renewing her allegation that the BNP-Jamaat clique is behind the recent killings, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is now unstoppable in its development drive and no conspiracy can deter it.
“Bangladesh is becoming an indomitable power and its ongoing development cannot be stopped any conspiracy or destructive move. The country will become a middle-income one, stamping out hunger and poverty much before 2021,” she said at a community reception accorded to her by Bangladeshi diaspora in The Hague on the last day of her three-day official visit to the Netherlands on Thursday, before leaving for home.
The premier and her entourage arrived in Dhaka from the Netherlands yesterday evening.
A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying them landed at Dhaka airport around 5:40pm yesterday, UNB reported.
At the reception in the Hague on Thursday, Hasina said: “Bangladesh is progressively moving forward in all sectors and no one can ignore it now. No conspiracy will work to skid the country off its aspired goal of achieving economic prosperity and social development.”
Mentioning the destructive politics of BNP-Jamaat clique over the years, she said Khaleda Zia has again bogged down in her conspiratorial politics and each of her steps is aimed at tarnishing Bangladesh’s image. “They’re behind the recent killings, anarchy and subversive activities.”
The prime minister further said Bangladesh would have been a developed nation much ago had Bangabandhu been alive. “Bangabandhu, during his three and a half years’ tenure, accomplished most of the tasks needed for cementing the foundation of an independent and sovereign state.”
But Ziaur Rahman captured power illegally after killing Bangabandhu, Hasina said, and Zia rehabilitated the killers and war criminals as well. He freed 11,000 war criminals from jail and rewarded the killers of Bangabandhu by giving foreign postings, she added.
On a different note, Hasina urged the Bangladeshi expatriates and foreign entrepreneurs to come up with their investments in Bangladesh’s various sectors, and brighten the country’s image.
“Expatriates have a major role in current economic development as they send around US$27.2 billion in remittance every year,” she said.
She also termed the Netherlands as a good friend of Bangladesh, saying the country had always been beside Bangladesh during its needs.