PM asks AL activists to guard railway tracks amid acts of sabotage

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered her Awami League party activists to keep an eye out for the railways near their homes to prevent acts of sabotage aimed to foil the general election.

Addressing the party’s campaign rally at Pirganj Government High School ground in Rangpur on Tuesday, she alerted them to people who “attempt to destroy the good things the Awami League has built”.

“Guard the railways near your homes, if necessary. Catch the culprits who try to set buses and other vehicles ablaze. People must resist them.”

While buses are the prime targets of the arsonists, a spate of attacks on trains amid the BNP’s transport blockades and hartals, or shutdowns, has left at least five people dead.

After her arrival in Rangpur in the morning, Hasina visited the graves of her husband Wazed Ali Miah, parents-in-law and brother-in-law in Pirganj. She also prayed for them.

She also spoke at campaign rallies of Abul Kalam Md Ahsanul Hoque Chowdhury in Taraganj and HN Ashequr Rahman in Mithapukur.

Hasina asks Awami League activists to guard railway tracks amid acts of sabotage Ahsanul is the ruling party’s candidate for Rangpur-2 and Ashequr for Rangpur-5.

She joined the rally for Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the candidate for Rangpur-6, after returning to Pirganj in the afternoon.

The prime minister criticised the people behind the arson attacks on buses and trains amid the BNP’s antigovernment protests before the Jan 7 election.

“Can killings be called protests? Everyone must be alert. Catch the arsonists and punish them, hand them over to police,” she said.

“We won’t allow anyone to damage the lives and properties of people, for whose happiness we are working day and night.”