Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the parliament that her government would carry out a fresh investigation to unearth whether BNP Chief Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman had been involved in the conspiracy where 10-truckloads of arms were being smuggled through Bangladesh territory. They would be put on trial if the investigations held positive results.
“None will be spared,” she said during an unscheduled discussion initiated by her cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim yesterday. She claimed that her government must not allow anyone to use the Bangladesh territory against other countries.
Taking part in the same discussion, Sheikh Selim, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Matia Chowdhury, Mayeen Uddin Khan, Abdul Mannan and Jahangir Kabir Nanak demanded the trial of Khaleda for her alleged involvement in the arms smuggling case.
Hasina took the floor and said the trial of the 10-truck arms haul cases had been done, but there could be fresh investigation on the conspiracy on this issue.
“In the reference of witnesses, the involvement of the BNP leader and the Hawa Bhaban has come. The trial is over. This is necessary to investigate whether the BNP leader and her son were involved in the conspiracy for the smuggling,” the premier told the unscheduled discussion that went on for around an hour and a half, with deputy speaker Fazle Rabbi in the chair.
“It must be done,” she claimed.
In the last part of her speech, Hasina said: “We will carry out a fresh investigation to find out whether the BNP leader and the Hawa Bhaban are involved in the conspiracy. We will hand down punishment; none will be spared.”
Earlier, Latif Siddiqui said Khaleda had known about the arms smuggling beforehand. He said the BNP chief could be tried in the case if parliament adopted a resolution on her trial.
Kazi Feroz Rashid of the Jatiya Party opposed the idea of going against Khaleda since the court had already given judgement in the two cases filed over the incident of April 2, 2004.
Feroz termed Selim’s statement “cheap speech” and urged the prime minister to remain vigilant so that the parliament did not turn into a “sanctuary of the sycophants.”
Hasina reiterated her stance on separatist groups. “This is [my] final position. We will in no way tolerate terrorist activities in any of its form on the soil of Bangladesh.”
After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, she said: “Bangladesh turned into a sanctuary of the Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.
“Why should we allow our land to be used in the fight between India and Pakistan? Bangladesh is an independent and sovereign nation. Why should it be a route for arms smuggling?”
The premier said the previous governments used to nurture the separatist groups from neighbouring countries by providing them with trainings and arms.
She said Khaleda in the past had termed the separatism in India’s north-eastern states “freedom struggle.” Her party MPs in parliament too spoke supporting the separatists.