PM Hasina fears 1971-style genocide if BNP and Jamaat come to power again

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fears that there will be another ‘campaign of genocide’ like that of 1971 if the BNP and its key ally the Jamaat-e-Islami ‘capture’ power again.

"Those Razakars, Al-Badr, murderers who are being tried, if they come to power again, will go for a genocide again like that of 1971," she said.

"She (BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia) will not hesitate for a moment (to do this)," the prime minister, said hinting that the opposition party and its ally would try to avenge the justice meted out to the war criminals.

Five top leaders of the Jamaat and one from the BNP have been hanged for war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as genocide, killing, rape, abduction, and arson during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971.

The Awami League-led government took the initiative to constitute anInternational War Crimes Tribunal to bring the 1971 war criminals to justice after it came to power in 2009. The trials continue.

The prime minister, however, expressed her optimism that the people would vote the Awami League and other pro-liberation forces to victory again in order to uphold the global reputation the country has attained in the last seven years of its ‘journey towards prosperity’.

"I have trust in people …to maintain the global reputation we have achieved…they will again vote us to victory -  the Awami League and our alliance and the pro-liberation forces, who are serving the country now," she said.

The prime minister was speaking at a Victory Day discussion organised by her party on Saturday.

She remarked that the people would ditch the BNP and its allies as they had done on previous elections.

"Why will the people vote for someone who has lost in a mass movement as well as in elections?" she argued.

The next parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in early 2019.

Sheikh Hasina called for people's support to maintain the process of development, to administer the country with the spirit of the Liberation War and to continue the war crimes trials.

"We all will live together irrespective of religion and class," Hasina added.

Speaking at the discussion at Krishibid Institution in Dhaka, Hasina also said the Awami League ‘believes in the people’

"We have worked for the people's development and welfare. That's why we never lose trust in them," she said.

"The people are our core strength and power," she added.

About the BNP's proposal on forming and strengthening the next Election Commission she said, "How can a person, who had to step down because of pressure from the people on grounds of vote rigging, speak about the fairness of elections?"

"She has sent the proposal to the president. The president has called her for talks. He will take the decision after talks with all the parties," she said.

Recalling the 2001 elections, the prime minister said, “The Awami League could have won the 2001 election if she (Hasina) had accepted the then US president Bill Clinton's proposal to let a US company excavate Bangladesh's gas and sell it to India.”

"Just before the elections, former president Jimmy Carter came as a representative. (Justice) Latifur Rahman was heading the caretaker government then. The presidents and the general secretaries of the Awami League and the BNP were invited to a lunch where the proposal was discussed. I left it but Khaleda Zia stayed on," Hasina said. 

"Jimmy Carter was so delighted that he went forward by placing his hand on Khaleda Zia's shoulder.

"There they made a deal. Khaleda Zia would sell gas if she came to power. They brought the BNP to the power," the prime minister alleged.

She said the US placed the same proposal to her again when she visited the country.

"But I am the daughter of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I don't do anything that can cause the slightest harm to the people," she said.

Sheikh Hasina also said she was ‘delighted’ to get stuck in a traffic congestion caused by cheerful Victory Day crowds on her way to Bangabhaban on Friday.

"I feel proud seeing the unprecedented gatherings...I saw enthusiasm in them and that's why I hope no one will be able to distort history again," she said.