Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reaffirmed that the sentences handed down to BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman by the courts in different cases will be carried out.
“We have been in talks with the British government (to bring Tarique back home)…I can say the punishment (he was given by the courts) will be executed today or tomorrow,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina made the remarks while speaking at a press conference at her official residence, Ganabhaban, on Sunday about the outcome of her recent tri-nation visit to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Finland.
Replying to a question about the latest government efforts to bring Tarique back home, the prime minister said, “I hate to speak his (Tarique’s) name. He has been leading a luxurious life in London as he amassed huge ill-gotten money. He tries to create some problems whenever I go there.”
Hasina came down hard on a group of people who shed crocodile tears for Tarique, forgetting the misdeeds he committed when the BNP-Jamaat alliance was in power.
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“How do you forget the August 21 grenade attack? I am not supposed to be alive after the way the attack was launched. Ivy Rahman and many others died in that attack when they (BNP) were in power,” the PM said.
She also said repeated attempts and attacks were made by BNP on her life. “They also killed thousands of our leaders and activists. You are out there crying for the killers who embezzled the money of orphans and were involved in smuggling 10 trucks of arms?”
She also questioned how the government will try criminals if people show sympathy to a convicted offender like Tarique.
Tarique, who was declared a fugitive by Bangladesh courts, has been sentenced up to life in prison in several cases, including that of money laundering, corruption and the August-21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka.
On September 11, 2008, Tarique Rahman went to London for treatment, and he has been living there with his family since then.
He was arrested on March 7, 2007 during the army-backed caretaker government and later released on parole on September 3, 2008.
