BATTLING BEGUMS: Khaleda Zia, left, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday rejected the main opposition BNP chairperson’s proposal for sitting in a national dialogue saying she does not like to sit with a killer like Khaleda Zia.
“The smell of burned human bodies will come from her (Zia) when I’ll sit beside her,” Hasina told a press conference at her official residence Ganabhaban.
The press conference was held to inform the media about the outcome of her just-concluded three-day visit to the Netherlands.
Zia in a recent statement called upon the government to create an atmosphere for a national dialogue to overcome the country’s current crisis in the interest of the nation.
In her statement, Zia said, “Under the current critical juncture of the country, you (government) create an environment for initiating a national dialogue to get rid of the crisis, shunning despotic attitude and not blocking the scope for flourishing democracy for the sake of the
nation.”
Hasina, also the chief of the ruling Awami League, said the BNP chairperson killed and murdered people in the name of resisting the last general election. “Bangladesh is not in such a political crisis or bankruptcy for which we have to sit with such a killer (Zia),” Hasina said.
The prime minister asked those who have a soft corner for Zia to bring back the lives which were taken away during the anti-election period and blockade and general strikes early this year.
“Bring back those lives and fix the lives of those got disabled in their destructive acts. Then, I’ll consider it,” she said.
Hasina said Zia has no quality to sit for dialogue with her. “She will gain the eligibility only when she’ll say the trial of war criminals should be held in Bangladesh, they’re the enemies of the country’s independence,” she said.
The prime minister said she will consider the dialogue offer only when Zia will part the
company of war criminals.
Hasina directed her party men not to welcome anyone from BNP and Jamaat to the ruling party cautioning that these elements will create intra-patry conflicts after their joining.
“We won’t accept anyone from BNP and Jamaat in our party,” she said.
The prime minister said it is a normal practice in the country to include people from other parties into a particular party in a bid to make it stronger.
The ruling party chief mentioned that joining Awami League by BNP and Jamaat men is planned programme to create intra-party conflicts in the party.
“They (BNP-Jamaat men) create intra-party conflicts first and then kill the genuine party men,” she said.
Hasina said, “From this press conference, I’m asking all leaders of our party to refrain from welcoming men from BNP and Jamaat.”
Press reports have it that a good number of leaders and activists from BNP and Jamaat are joining the ruling party across the country.
Hasina also came down heavily on Amnesty Intentional for its reported remarks on Bangladesh’s freedom fighters and the trial of war criminals.
“Surely, they (AI) have got a hefty amount of something for which they’re preparing such reports, or else, why they would do this,” she said.
In a statement on October 27, Amnesty International said Bangladesh’s pro-independence forces in the 1971 war also committed crimes, and the trial of two convicts - Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury — was flawed.
“Serious crimes were also committed by the pro-independence forces, but no one has been investigated or brought to justice for them,” the UK-based right body said.
The PM said this is just a repulsive act (done by AI) and they should recall the misdeeds committed by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mujaheed.
“This is not acceptable to us that they’ll talk against our freedom fighters and submit reports to save war criminals…we strongly protested it and will convey our further protests,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the government will never accept such a statement from any quarter.
Pointing finger to the BNP-Jamaat alliance without mentioning their names for financing such report writing, Hasina said they have pocketed billions of taka through corruption and money laundering, and now they are using that.
She also mentioned that the trial of war criminals was the demand of the whole nation. “We’ll have to ensure the quick trial of these war criminals to get rid of disturbance.”
The Prime Minister also said the government bothers little who does what. “We know the criminals and their trial must be held,” she added.
