'See you on the streets'

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has dismissed the possibility of a dialogue with the BNP, saying, "We will see them on the streets."

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 26 July 2014, 12:21 PM
Updated : 26 July 2014, 03:49 PM

She was speaking at a press briefing at Ganabhaban on Saturday.

"The next election will be held democratically and constitutionally," the prime minister said.

BNP and its allies have announced that they will go on a movement after Eid demanding an interim election under a non-partisan government.

Asked for her reaction, Hasina said, "Let them come. Awami League is with me. The people are with me. We'll take them on the streets."

"They missed the train. The train's gone now. They'll have to wait for another train," she said, alluding to BNP's demand for fresh polls.

She reminded of her long telephonic conversation with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia before the January elections.

"Why all these talks about dialogue? We tried for dialogue. Why do you want to further humiliate me?"

"They killed hundreds of people during the elections. Do you think that the government will sit around and watch if they resort to such movements again,” she retorted.

Hasina said BNP had made a mistake by not taking part in the election. "The elections were held and they didn't take part in it. The nation cannot pay for their wrong decision," she said.

"The elections were held and the people accepted it. Voter turnout was 40 percent," she added.

She asked reporters, "Don’t you want trial of war criminals ?"

"Those people who killed my parents...rows of bodies of my party members lying in front of my eyes. I know who did that. How can I sit down with them?"

During her Omrah, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman had a meeting with Islamic Development Bank President Ahmed Mohammad Ali.

Asked about this, Hasina said, "You should ask them. How comfortable were they meeting with an absconding criminal?"

Asked whether the government was taking any initiatives to bring Tarique back, she said, "The cases are there. Let justice take its own course."

Foreign minister, tourism minister, state minister for foreign affairs and the state minister for women and children affairs were present with the prime minister in the press conference.