India not upholding ‘commitment to democracy’ by sheltering Hasina: Fakhrul
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India has not been honouring ‘democratic ideals’ by providing shelter to Sheikh Hasina, saus BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
‘‘The fascist oppressor and killer Sheikh Hasina fled the country, leaving its people following a mass uprising of students and the people. It is our misfortune that our neighbouring country India offered her refuge. From there, she has been hatching a conspiracy to foil the revolution of the students and common people in Bangladesh,” Fakhrul told the media on Tuesday after paying tribute to BNP founder Ziaur Rahman at his grave on Tuesday, reports bdnews24.com.
‘‘I don’t think India has upheld its commitment to democracy by offering refuge to her in this manner. We urge India to hand her over to the government of Bangladesh as per the law and let her face the trial that the people of Bangladesh decide for her.”
“People in Bangladesh do not trivialise the crimes committed by Sheikh Hasina. They believe that the fascist reign of Hasina weakened the independence of Bangladesh for the last 15 years and injured the nation,” he said.
During her rule Hasina ensnared the nation in Tk 18 trillion in loans and laundered $100 billion, Fakhrul said. She offered the nation only ‘bad governance’ and ‘destroyed all institutions,’ he said.
REGARDING THE INTERIM GOVT
The BNP believes that the interim government emerged through a revolution following a mass uprising and their key job is to hold a free and fair election and hand over the power to people’s representatives, says Mirza Fakhrul.
‘‘However, I believe that some time is needed to clean up the rubbish created by the Awami League government….We need some time to hold a free and fair election and the interim government can work to reach that goal. They can do the necessary reforms. People in Bangladesh will give them that time.”
The BNP secretary general applauded the initiatives taken by the interim government in the last eleven days.
He went to the grave of martyred president Ziaur Rahman around 12:30pm on Tuesday accompanied by Ret Maj Hafizuddin Ahmed and Prof AZM Zahid Hossain, two newly appointed standing committee members. They placed a wreath and offered special prayers at the grave.
‘EVERYONE SHOULD BE VIGILANT TO SAVE DEMOCRACY’
‘‘I have been a BNP member for the last 32 years. I earnestly thank and pay my gratitude to our top leader Begum Khaleda Zia and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman for placing me in the policymaking forum of the BNP. I hope to follow the ideology of BNP’s martyred president Ziaur Rahman and gradually drive Bangladesh to the pinnacle of development,” said Hafizuddin Ahmed.
He said the BNP began to stage a movement 16 years ago to restore democracy. At the final stage, the Anti-discrimination Student Movement joined that movement and propelled it to its goal.
Hafizuddin prayed for the salvation of the departed souls of those who died in the violence around the Anti-discriminatory Student Movement. “Abu Sayed sacrificed his life and opened the path to establish democracy in Bangladesh. There were no human rights as of now [in the country] as the Awami League government banished it. The BNP, students and people will work together to ensure that no one can hamper democracy in Bangladesh in the future,” he said.
The former army member highly praised the Bangladesh Army for its role in the student-led revolution in August. ‘‘During the revolution in August, the Bangladesh Army joined the people at the rail end and played an important role to topple the autocratic government. I thank every member of the army and Armed Forces. I hope, these forces which are maintained with people’s money, will stand beside the people in future and never support autocracy.”
‘THE NEW GENERATION LEARNED WHAT INDEPENDENCE IS’
Prof AZM Zahid Hossain said he was a member of Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the BNP, in 1979 and has worked for the party since then as an activist. “I believe that the BNP started a movement to restore democracy in the country in December 2009 and will work to find those who went missing while working in that movement. We pray for those who were martyred during our movement.”
‘‘The autocrat fled the country in the face of a student-led mass uprising. The nation got a new independence. We got independence once on Dec 16. This time on Aug 5, the new generation got to know what independence means. They got to know what it means to have freedom of expression. No human rights existed in the country. It was the rule of a single person. We got freedom from it. We have to maintain this freedom on our path to democracy.”
On Aug 16, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi formally announced that BNP Vice Chairmen Hafizuddin Ahmed Bir Bikrom and Prof AZM Zahid Hossain were promoted to the standing committee, the top policymaking forum of the BNP.