A view of the Awami League rally addressed by the AL president and prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital on Sunday. — Indrajit Ghosh
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday made a fresh offer for dialogue with opposition leader Khaleda Zia ahead of the polls provided the latter calls off the 60-hour nationwide shutdown her alliance would enforce from this morning.
‘The door for dialogue is still open. But she [Khaleda] must withdraw her 60-hour hartal first and make a commitment to the people that she would not call hartal again… I would again request you to let us form an all-party government through discussion and present the nation with a fair election,’ Hasina said at a huge rally at Suhrawardy
Udyan marking the Jail Killing Day.
She said that despite having 90 per cent majority in the house, she had invited the opposition leader to dialogue considering the sufferings of the people but the latter did turned down the offer.
‘I had asked her to say which ministries she wanted and let us form an all-party government through consultation. But she did not respond to my request and instead opted for hartal that claimed 20 lives. She has to take the responsibility for the killings,’ Hasina said.
‘I again request her to call off the [fresh spell of] hartal and not to stand in the way of the examinations of children and break their hearts,’ she added.
The prime minister said the opposition leader’s attempts to save the war criminals by enforcing hartals would not succeed and a free and fair election would be held in line with the constitution in time.
Hasina also called on every activist of Awami League and its fronts to be on guard in every neighbourhood against any attempts of subversion and protect lives and property of the people during the opposition’s shutdown. ‘There are already committees against violence. I ask all the activists to protect people’s lives and property in coordination with the committees,’ she said.
The Awami League chief in her speech repeatedly requested the opposition leader to call off the fresh 60-hour shutdown considering the problems of the children who were preparing to take the junior certificate exams. ‘How could she [Khaleda] value education? She could not pass SSC examinations; she got pass marks only in mathematics and Urdu,’ she said.
Hasina told the audience that she had called on the opposition leader to sit for dialogue but she had replied with a 48-hour ultimatum to unseat her and send her to exile. ‘Who can kill someone if Allah is with them? I am still here before you,’ she said.
She said the opposition leader now wanted caretaker government and questioned her whether she had forgotten her experience after January 11, 2007. ‘It is she who is responsible for the events leading to January 11. Enrolling one crore 33 lakh fake voters in the electoral roll and forming an “Yes [ Iaj] Uddin” government had led to such happenings. Her own people Fakhruddin [Ahmed], whom she made central bank governor, and Moeen Uddin [Ahmed], whom she made the army chief superseding seven people, had put her in jail. Does she want to forget all this? Why does she want the same thing again,’ Hasina wondered.
The prime minister said the only thing BNP and Jamaat could do was killing people and harbouring killers. ‘Ziaur Rahman even did not allow me to enter our house [at Dhanmondi road 32] and hold a milad mahfil there. Instead, he rewarded the killers by posting them to overseas missions.
She said that in 2004, the BNP mounted a grenade attack on her rally, destroyed its evidence and staged the ‘Judge Mia drama’ instead of holding trial of the carnage. ‘Investigations later revealed that one of her ministers and her son were involved in plotting the attack,’ she said.
Hasina alleged that within 52 days after Awami League had assumed office, 57 army officers were killed in Pilkhana of whom 33 were from families supporting Awami League. BNP and Jamaat lawyers were now defending the accused in court. ‘CNN online reports have revealed who had been involved in the killings,’ she said.
The prime minister said the opposition leader seemed to be suffering from ‘perversion’ which had prompted her to celebrate her fake birthday on August 15 despite being reminded that little Russell, whom she [Khaleda] had come across many times over and adored him whenever she visited the Dhanmondi road 32 house before August 1975, was brutally killed on that day.
Hasina also questioned the sincerity and competence of Khaleda in running the state. ‘I knew that she is a late riser. So I tried to reach her by phone after 1:00pm but failed after dialling repeatedly for half an hour. Then I asked my aide-de camp to reach her but her private secretary told him that she could be prepared for phone conversation after 9:00pm. I do not know how a person, who takes such a long time for taking preparations for a phone conversation, had run the country,’ she said.
Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury, Mohammad Nasim, Syed Ashraful Islam, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and MA Aziz, among others, also spoke at the rally presided over by Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
The AL virtually embarked on electioneering through the rally by mobilising a massive crowd at Suhrawardy Udyan that began around 1:00pm.
The ruling party men at the rally were in the mood of electioneering carrying festoons, placards and banners urging the people to vote for AL’s election symbol ‘boat’ and chanting slogans for execution of the verdicts in the war crimes trials.
Activists from Dhaka city, Dhaka district, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Comilla, Manikganj, Narsingdi and Munshiganj, Sirajganj, Tangail and other nearby districts started pouring in the rally venue in processions from noon. There was a significant presence of freedom fighters from different districts.
The participants at the rally apparently violated the conditions imposed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police to hold rallies at Suhrawardy Udyan.
The DMP put restrictions on people coming to the venue in processions, gathering on roads, streets and walkways outside the venue, carrying any kind of banners and festoons, and blocking traffic on adjacent roads.
But the activists, in their large numbers, came in processions carrying banners, festoons and gathered at TSC and Shahbagh areas outside the venue. The processions disrupted traffic and triggered tailbacks around the venue.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party also violated the DMP conditions in a similar manner during their rally at the same venue on October 25.
Earlier on the day, the prime minister paid homage to the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the four national leaders on the occasion of the Jail Killing Day.
She placed wreath at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Bhaban and at the graves of the national leaders at Banani Graveyard.
The four national leaders and liberation war heroes - Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamaruzzaman – were killed in captivity inside Dhaka Central Jail by a group of soldiers on November 3, 1975. (source)
‘The door for dialogue is still open. But she [Khaleda] must withdraw her 60-hour hartal first and make a commitment to the people that she would not call hartal again… I would again request you to let us form an all-party government through discussion and present the nation with a fair election,’ Hasina said at a huge rally at Suhrawardy
Udyan marking the Jail Killing Day.
She said that despite having 90 per cent majority in the house, she had invited the opposition leader to dialogue considering the sufferings of the people but the latter did turned down the offer.
‘I had asked her to say which ministries she wanted and let us form an all-party government through consultation. But she did not respond to my request and instead opted for hartal that claimed 20 lives. She has to take the responsibility for the killings,’ Hasina said.
‘I again request her to call off the [fresh spell of] hartal and not to stand in the way of the examinations of children and break their hearts,’ she added.
The prime minister said the opposition leader’s attempts to save the war criminals by enforcing hartals would not succeed and a free and fair election would be held in line with the constitution in time.
Hasina also called on every activist of Awami League and its fronts to be on guard in every neighbourhood against any attempts of subversion and protect lives and property of the people during the opposition’s shutdown. ‘There are already committees against violence. I ask all the activists to protect people’s lives and property in coordination with the committees,’ she said.
The Awami League chief in her speech repeatedly requested the opposition leader to call off the fresh 60-hour shutdown considering the problems of the children who were preparing to take the junior certificate exams. ‘How could she [Khaleda] value education? She could not pass SSC examinations; she got pass marks only in mathematics and Urdu,’ she said.
Hasina told the audience that she had called on the opposition leader to sit for dialogue but she had replied with a 48-hour ultimatum to unseat her and send her to exile. ‘Who can kill someone if Allah is with them? I am still here before you,’ she said.
She said the opposition leader now wanted caretaker government and questioned her whether she had forgotten her experience after January 11, 2007. ‘It is she who is responsible for the events leading to January 11. Enrolling one crore 33 lakh fake voters in the electoral roll and forming an “Yes [ Iaj] Uddin” government had led to such happenings. Her own people Fakhruddin [Ahmed], whom she made central bank governor, and Moeen Uddin [Ahmed], whom she made the army chief superseding seven people, had put her in jail. Does she want to forget all this? Why does she want the same thing again,’ Hasina wondered.
The prime minister said the only thing BNP and Jamaat could do was killing people and harbouring killers. ‘Ziaur Rahman even did not allow me to enter our house [at Dhanmondi road 32] and hold a milad mahfil there. Instead, he rewarded the killers by posting them to overseas missions.
She said that in 2004, the BNP mounted a grenade attack on her rally, destroyed its evidence and staged the ‘Judge Mia drama’ instead of holding trial of the carnage. ‘Investigations later revealed that one of her ministers and her son were involved in plotting the attack,’ she said.
Hasina alleged that within 52 days after Awami League had assumed office, 57 army officers were killed in Pilkhana of whom 33 were from families supporting Awami League. BNP and Jamaat lawyers were now defending the accused in court. ‘CNN online reports have revealed who had been involved in the killings,’ she said.
The prime minister said the opposition leader seemed to be suffering from ‘perversion’ which had prompted her to celebrate her fake birthday on August 15 despite being reminded that little Russell, whom she [Khaleda] had come across many times over and adored him whenever she visited the Dhanmondi road 32 house before August 1975, was brutally killed on that day.
Hasina also questioned the sincerity and competence of Khaleda in running the state. ‘I knew that she is a late riser. So I tried to reach her by phone after 1:00pm but failed after dialling repeatedly for half an hour. Then I asked my aide-de camp to reach her but her private secretary told him that she could be prepared for phone conversation after 9:00pm. I do not know how a person, who takes such a long time for taking preparations for a phone conversation, had run the country,’ she said.
Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury, Mohammad Nasim, Syed Ashraful Islam, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and MA Aziz, among others, also spoke at the rally presided over by Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
The AL virtually embarked on electioneering through the rally by mobilising a massive crowd at Suhrawardy Udyan that began around 1:00pm.
The ruling party men at the rally were in the mood of electioneering carrying festoons, placards and banners urging the people to vote for AL’s election symbol ‘boat’ and chanting slogans for execution of the verdicts in the war crimes trials.
Activists from Dhaka city, Dhaka district, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Comilla, Manikganj, Narsingdi and Munshiganj, Sirajganj, Tangail and other nearby districts started pouring in the rally venue in processions from noon. There was a significant presence of freedom fighters from different districts.
The participants at the rally apparently violated the conditions imposed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police to hold rallies at Suhrawardy Udyan.
The DMP put restrictions on people coming to the venue in processions, gathering on roads, streets and walkways outside the venue, carrying any kind of banners and festoons, and blocking traffic on adjacent roads.
But the activists, in their large numbers, came in processions carrying banners, festoons and gathered at TSC and Shahbagh areas outside the venue. The processions disrupted traffic and triggered tailbacks around the venue.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party also violated the DMP conditions in a similar manner during their rally at the same venue on October 25.
Earlier on the day, the prime minister paid homage to the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the four national leaders on the occasion of the Jail Killing Day.
She placed wreath at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Bhaban and at the graves of the national leaders at Banani Graveyard.
The four national leaders and liberation war heroes - Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamaruzzaman – were killed in captivity inside Dhaka Central Jail by a group of soldiers on November 3, 1975. (source)