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World cannot ignore Bangladesh any more, says Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Awami League has not only built Bangladesh as an independent country but has also played a key role in its economic progress.
Published : 23 June 2015, 10:13 PM
Updated : 23 June 2015, 10:13 PM
“Awami League is an organisation of Bangladesh’s soil and people. From its establishment, it has waged struggle to realise the rights of Bengali nation,” the ruling party chief said in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“Awami League has brought achievements in every sector,” Hasina told a programme marking its 67th founding anniversary.
On June 23, 1949, the party came into existence as Awami Muslim League at Old Dhaka’s KM Das Lane.
Later it dropped the word ‘Muslim’ and emerged as secular nationalist party fighting for autonomy of Bengali-dominated eastern part of Pakistan.
It became the undisputed political choice for Bengalis during the movement for bringing down the military regime of Ayub Khan.
In 1966, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman-led Awami League announced the historic Six-Point Charter that formed the basis for the party’s landslide victory in the 1970 elections.
After the brutal crackdown by Pakistani army on Bengalis in March 25, 1971, the Awami League led the war for the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation.
The party ruled the country for a total of 15 years after independence in 1971.
At Tuesday’s programme, Hasina said, “No-one can neglect Bangladesh. It now has become the role model for development in the world.’
She gave an account of the progress made on education, health, food security, information technology and poverty reduction.
“The country is marching ahead in keeping with the pace of the world.”
She said, “Those who neglected Bangladesh are now viewing it as a role model for development. This has been possible only because the Awami League assumed power.”
She said all the achievements of the people of the country came during the rule of her party.
“Awami League – when in power or in opposition – has always been vocal for people’s rights. It realised rights of the people of Bengal over and again.”
She also described her party’s role in the fall of the autocratic rule in 1990 and of Khaleda Zia’s government of ‘vote rigging’ in 1996.
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