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Zia initiated culture of political killing: PM

Khaleda prepared a condolence message for me


Published : 21 Aug 2019 09:33 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 01:04 AM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said Ziaur Rahman had initiated the politics of killing. “And Khaleda Zia had also prepared a condolence message for me that I would die in the August 21 grenade attack in 2004,” she said at a discussion meeting in the city. In this regard, Sheikh Hasina, also Awami League President, who narrowly escaped death in the attack, referred to some remarks of Khaleda Zia.

The discussion meeting was organised at Krishibid Institution of Bangladesh at Khamarbari in city marking the 15th anniversary of the attack that left 24 people killed and several hundred injured. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the discussion. “BNP had a target to kill me. But Almighty Allah saved me from the deadly attack,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said after Ziaur Rahman, Ershad and Khaleda Zia had also tried their level best to eliminate Awami League and its leaders and workers and pro-liberation forces from the country. “They had also tried to make Bangladesh a failed country before the world community,” she said. In this connection, the prime minister said Begum Zia used to say frequently that Hasina would never be the prime minister nor even the leader of the opposition in the next 100 years.

“We all should remember the incident while Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman stayed at his father-in-law's house at road no 5, Dhanmondi, for eight to ten months consecutively," she said, posing a question whether Tarique lived there to hatch a conspiracy against her. She said it does mean from the statements and remarks of the BNP leader and her partymen that they wanted to eliminate me from this world.

“Ziaur Rahman and Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad were involved in assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975. And later, Zia’s family was involved in the August 21, 2004, grenade attack,” Sheikh Hasina added. “Now it is very clear to everyone who were involved in that heinous and barbaric attack,” the prime minister said. She also blamed the then law enforcement agencies for playing a dubious role.

“Instead of protecting the injured leaders and activists of our party, they charged truncheons and used teargas on the victims,” she said. She also blamed BNP-minded doctors for not treating the injured at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. Recalling the horrifying day, an emotion-choked Hasina said, "After the attack, I lost my glasses and I couldn't see.”

“I will build a hunger and poverty-free Sonar Bangla as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” she said. She further said, “I don’t have anything to gain.” “My only aim is to materialise the ideals of Bangabandhu, based on which he liberated the country,” she said. “I will work till my last breath to realise the dreams of Bangabandhu. “I don’t fear death for working to make Bangladesh a prosperous country as Bangabandhu once dreamt of,” she said.

“Those who had not accepted the country's independence and wanted to make Bangladesh a province of Pakistan were still hatching conspiracies”, Hasina said, asking people to be alert about their plots. She thanked the party leaders and workers and country’s people to stand beside her during the difficult days.
Cabinet members, PM's advisers, senior leaders of AL and 14-party alliance, and family members of the martyrs and those injured in the incident were present.