Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has firmly rejected demands by Islamists for a new anti-blasphemy law to punish those who speak or write against Islam.
Published : 08 Apr 2013, 03:56 AM
On the recent arrests of four bloggers for alleged inflammatory writings on Islam, she said the arrests were not made to appease the Islamists.
Hasina said her government had already set up a committee to screen blogs, Facebook postings and other material on the Internet so that nothing is posted that hurts religious sentiments.
“If they are found guilty [of hurting religious sentiments], they must be brought to book. They have been arrested because they have written some unlawful things,” she said.
She suggested the arrests were based on evidence.
The bloggers' arrests triggered a public outcry and many suspected the country was moving away from its secular stand.
The Prime Minister said that impression was not correct.
“…We amended our Constitution, to ensure equal rights for all our people to practise their religion.”
Hasina said: “Bangladesh Awami League always believes and supports that [people of] every religion should have their right to perform their religion... We will always ensure that.”
She also defended the ongoing war crimes trials which the Jamaat and the BNP dismiss as acts of 'political vendetta'.
Hasina said the tribunals are trying those who had committed heinous crimes during the Liberation War.
"If they happen to be from the Opposition, we cannot help it," she said. “They have been charged on the basis of evidence… those being tried are war criminals.”
The top brass of the Jamaat and two BNP leaders are standing trials on a raft of war crimes charges. The tribunals have already delivered verdicts against three, including two top Jamaat leaders -- Abdul Quader Molla and Delwar Hossain Sayedee.
She said the trials were started because it was the 'demand of the people' and because the Awami League was committed to start them if elected to power. "We had made this commitment in our election manifesto in 2008 and you know the result of that election."
“Our nation wants the trials. After they are over, we can live in peace. Only a miniscule section opposes the trials because they were involved with the occupation force."
The Awami League chief pulled up the main Opposition BNP for 'trying to protect the war criminals. "Why are they trying to save the war criminals’?
On the violence in recent months by the opposition, the Prime Minister said the government knew how to tackle the situation. She said Bangladesh’s economy would continue to flourish despite all hurdles.
About holding talks with the opposition, she said her doors were always open, but pointed out that it was the Opposition which was not interested.
Last month, at a rally in Manikganj, BNP chief Khaleda Zia declined the proposal for a dialogue with the government and warned of intensified agitation to oust the government.
As the standoff between the two main political parties continued, a lawyer had moved the High Court asking it to get the top BNP and Awami League leaders on the table to end the current political impasse. The court has already issued a rule asking why Hasina and Khaleda would not be ordered to start a dialogue to ensure a free and fair national election.
Hasina described the court's decision as 'strange' and the petition as 'ridiculous' but declined further comment on grounds that the matter was sub judice.