Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said a BNP movement together with the killers of the intellectuals to save war criminals from facing justice would not be successful.
“Khaleda Zia is threatening to wage a movement during victory month. But her movement with the killers of the illustrious sons of the soil to protect 1971 war criminals will not be successful,” she said.
Hasina, the Awami League president, said this while addressing a discussion on Martyred Intellectuals Day, at Bangladesh Krishibid Institution in Khamarbari in the capital this afternoon. Deputy Leader of the House and Senior Party Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury chaired the discussion.
It was addressed, among others, by Advisory Council members Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Suarnjit Sengupta, Presidium members Matia Chowdhury and Sahara Khatun, joint secretaries Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Organising Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Food Minister Qamrul Islam, Dhaka City acting president MA Aziz and General Secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdury Maya.
The prime minister came down heavily on the BNP leader for addressing a meeting in Narayanganj on Saturday with al-Badr and Razakar leaders.
“How could she address a meeting on December 13, the day before Martyred Intellectuals Day, with al-Badr, Razakar and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders on the same dais?” she asked.
Sheikh Hasina said it was Jamaat-e-Islami leaders who were with Khaleda Zia on the dais and there were festoons, banners and balloons inscribed with pictures of war criminals as well as Razakar and al-Badr chiefs at the meeting.
She said the meeting had been arranged to protect war criminals and the killers of the intellectuals.
“From the meeting, Khaleda Zia also wished curses upon my head to save the war criminals,” the prime minister said.
She quoted a saying that goes: A cow would not die because of a vulture’s prayers. If that happened, not a single cow would be alive,” she said, adding that there were some vultures in the country who want to save war criminals and destroy the country.
The Prime Minister said: “Insha Allah all of the verdicts will be executed.”The prime minister called upon her countrymen to be vigilant so that Pro-Pakistan collaborators never come to state power.”
She urged Bangladeshis to vow to realise the dream of the martyred intellectuals.
“We will have to renew our vows to build a hunger-free and poverty-free Bangladesh for which the illustrious sons of the soil embraced martyrdom in 1971,” she said.
