Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan yesterday criticised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for calling for a dialogue with the BNP-led 19-party alliance, saying Ban should have rather condemned the pre-January 5 poll violence that killed many people.
In his speech on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014-15, the minister gave hints that there would be no dialogue with the BNP before the next parliamentary election in 2019 as he said the BNP was not “decent enough.”
He said the BNP had been crying caught in traps.
“They are not only crying at home, they are also crying abroad,” said Shajahan, raising the issue of Ban's meeting with President Abdul Hamid who made it clear that there would be no dialogue between the Awami League and the BNP before 2019.
He said the leaders and activists of the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami were beating and burning people. “You [Ban Ki-moon] did not talk against or condemn those killings,” said Shajahan.
He said the BNP had missed the train. “So, you have to wait for the next train...You have to be decent for a dialogue.”
<b>Pillar of hatred<b>
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque yesterday proposed setting up of a pillar of hatred for the next generation to spit and throw shoes expressing hatred to the collaborators of the Pakistan army for their role during the country's war of independence in 1971.
He also said the government would ensure dedicated wards in public hospitals for the treatment of the freedom fighters take measures to ensure housing facilities for them.
Mozammel also said freedom fighters should be included in the entourage of the prime minister's overseas tours.
Saber Hossain Chowdhury proposed imposing higher taxes on tobacco that kill 680 people every day.
“I propose declaring the Jatiya Sangsad premises non-smoking zone,” he said.
