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Ex Prime Minister and Opposition Leader in Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina |
By
Ahmed Faruque Hassan, IOL Bangladesh Correspondent
DHAKA,
November 30 (IslamOnline) - Ex prime minister and Opposition Leader in
Bangladesh Parliament Awami League President Sheikh Hasina
Saturday, November 30, said “The government must prove what I have
said abroad against the country. Otherwise, I will file a case against
this government,” she said while talking to the newsmen at Zia
International Airport Dhaka on her return from a nine-day visit to
India and Thailand .She charged the ruling party with spreading false
propaganda against her.
Replying
to a question about the European Parliament’s resolution on
Bangladesh and the statement in the Indian Parliament with which the
ruling party is slamming the opposition leader, she said: “Am I so
powerful that European Parliament, Indian Parliament and the U.S.
State Department will act according to my dictates.”
Hasina
said everything is on record about what I have said during my visits
to Bangkok and India. “I am challenging the ruling party to say what
I have told against the country.”
She
said that she would not spare those who are trying to tarnish her
image by making false statements.
“It
is the failure of the government that they cannot protect the image of
the nation,” the Awami League President said. “Speaking against
misdeeds of the government is not speaking against the country;
speaking about terrorism and corruption of the government is not
something to say against the country.”
She
said this government has tarnished the image of the country by
“violating the human rights, resorting to torture and repression on
the people, and unleashing terrorism and corruption.”
The
opposition leader said: “The image of the country is being tarnished
for the torture, terrorism and misdeeds of the ruling party, not
because of the opposition. Everything - whatever is happening here -
goes all over the world through media, the world is not blind.”
Hasina
said the European Parliament is a representative body of the European
MPs and they take any resolution according to their decision, not on
the suggestions or at the dictates from any quarter.
“Everybody
knows what is happening in Bangladesh,” she said referring to the
incidents of torture on the people, on opposition leaders and workers,
journalists and other professionals.
The
Awami League chief said that after the October 1 election last year,
the ruling alliance “started a rule of anarchy across the country,
violated human rights, killed innocent people, including children, and
indulged in corruption… they have destroyed the image of the
nation.”
She
alleged that the government called out the army after having failed to
run the country. “This government is clinically dead. And now trying
to shift its failure on to Awami League, but the people know who is
doing what,” she said.
Replying
to queries about her meetings with the Indian leaders, including Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Hasina said she had talked about the
trade imbalance between the two countries.
“During
our rule, we had demanded duty-free access of 25 category of items. I
mentioned about that and requested them to accept the demand,” she
said.
The
former Prime Minister further said that she had also discussed with
the Indian leaders about the killing of Bangladesh nationals by Indian
BSF in the border areas. About 300 people were killed by BSF last
year, but the government could not do anything about it.
About
the Indian claim of the presence of Al-Qaeda elements in Bangladesh,
she said: “It is a matter for the government and they should answer
it. The government should not relate me with all these things.”
The
ruling BNP-Jamaat alliance has destroyed everything of the country -
its image, democracy, human rights and people’s right to live in
peace and security, she alleged.
Responding
to a question about the arrest of two foreign journalists, Hasina said
it is now “internationally proved” that the government was
torturing the journalists. She also mentioned the “torture on the
local journalists.”
She
said that during her rule, the country’s image brightened abroad and
“there was no allegation of torture and repression while prices of
essentials were under control.”
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