The government will continue to take the hard-line against the subversive activities of the BNP-Jamaat led 20-party alliance, warned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before going on to chair an Awami League Advisory Committee meeting at the Gonobhaban yesterday evening.
“Unless we can entirely uproot the evil deeds of BNP-Jamaat, we will not let loose. The treatment will remain firm, unforgiving. Everyone involved in directing, executing and funding these activities will all have to face the music,”the PM said regarding the uncompromising, tight treatment the administration is dishing out to its opposition.
The premier then set her sights on the Human Rights Watch, angry that they have yet to make noise condemning the BNP-Jamaat violence whilst calling for suspending the execution of war criminal Muhammed Kamaruzzaman pending an independent review of the verdict, and dealt a heavy hand: “This organisation published a controversial list of missing persons after the joint forces action that took care of the Hefazat-e-Islam sit-in. Later, several persons from the HRW list were found to be alive.
“It [HRW] should keep mum, as it has proven time and again that it is the most opportunist and self-serving organisation. The HRW has lost its voice. There is no ink in its activists’ pens.”
The PM was speaking to journalists ahead of her meeting that, she said, was supposed to discuss the upcoming financial budget. The finance minister, among others, was in attendance.
The meeting mainly discussed the impending city polls in Dhaka and Chittagong. The agenda included the upcoming budget, Kamarruzzaman’s execution and the role of the HRW and the United Nations regarding the executions among other political issues, sources from the meeting told the Dhaka Tribune.
The meeting decided that the AL will try restricting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia from campaigning for BNP-supported candidates in the City Corporation elections; BNP-Jamaat supporters will not be allowed to incite any violence or anarchy during the city polls.
Speakers in the meeting argued that since BNP chief Khaleda is the proven masterminded and leader of the arsonists, it is only fair that she is not allowed to campaign for the mayoral elections.
Awami League General Secretary and LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhit, prime minister’s advisors and other advisory committee members were present in the meeting.
Party sources said the issues may be discussed again in an Awami League Central Working Committee meeting on April 15.
