Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Mpnday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has got worldwide appreciation for taking pragmatic steps to save people’s lives and livelihoods in the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“The present government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken various pragmatic steps initially to save two things -lives and livelihoods of people- during Coronavirus crisis . . . And all these initiatives have been acclaimed by the world community,” he told a press briefing at his Bangladesh Secretariat office yesterday afternoon.
The information minister said “The World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and prestigious Forbes Magazine applauded the leadership of the Bangladesh Prime Minister for showing her capability to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in a right way.
Referring to huge stakes prevailing in the world economy presently, Dr Hasan categorically said the world reputed magazine ‘The Economist’ rightly depicted the steps undertaken by the present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He mentioned that the role of Bangladesh in tackling the present economic crisis, what the world is facing, is above many South Asian countries, including India, Pakistan and even China.
“Whether anybody appreciates it or not, this is the reality indeed,” Dr Hasan, also the Awami League joint general secretary, added.
“Bangladesh’s ability to deal with the economic risks is very good and it has come up in many reports of the world community,” the information minister said.
Replying to a query of a journalist about the recent comment of BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Hasan said the WHO is highly appreciating the government’s various steps to deal with the Covid-19. On the contrary, BNP leader Rizvi is talking in a way that he (Rizvi) knows about the health issues more than the World Health Organization.
Urging BNP to look back, Hasan said, “You (BNP) must remember the incident of the 1991 cyclonic storm when there were a number of warplanes of Bangladesh Air Force at Chattogram airport. About a dozen of warplanes were destroyed there as they (BNP) did not take steps to bring the planes to Dhaka”.
They also could take the ships upstream, but they did not do so, that caused damages to many ships in the Chattogram river port, he said, adding the incidents had took place due to the stupidity of the then BNP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
“The remarks that Rizvi Ahmed are making sitting in the garbage are simply stupidity… actually he himself is talking like a stupid,” Hasan said.
