Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated her determination to build a poverty-free secular Bangladesh on the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War, a country free of religious bigotry.
Published : 24 Mar 2013, 07:22 AM
"Bangladesh will not tolerate any militancy," she said. “We are religious but not bigots. The spirit of liberation war always guides us. We are committed to build a prosperous and non-communal Bangladesh free from hunger, poverty and illiteracy,” she said at a programme on Sunday organised to honour the 'foreign friends'.
She appealed to Bangladesh's 'foreign friends' to support her government's fight against religious extremism by backing the 'long awaited war crimes trials'.
Hasina was speaking at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) where Bangladesh awarded another 69 foreign friends in the sixth phase for their contributions during the 1971 Liberation War. The process began after the current Awami League government took office.
Cuban revolutionary leader and former President Fidel Castro and former British Prime Minister Lord Harold Wilson have been awarded ‘Liberation War Honour’. Delegates for now retired Castro and two-time British Minister Wilson received the honours.
General Jagjit Singh Arora, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the coalition forces during the Liberation War, former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and 65 others have been awarded ‘Friends of Liberation War Honour’.
Calling on the people who had stood by Bangladesh during the turbulent days of the Liberation War, she said, “We want your support to make our struggle a success. I am sure that we will get your total support in building a non-communal poverty-free Bangladesh as you did in 1971 to help our aspirations materialise.”
The Prime Minister recalled the torture of the Pakistani army on Bengalis and the unanimous support of the foreign friends who firmly stood by the struggle.
“Our foreign friends rose in protest against the atrocities committed on the people of Bangladesh and influenced the approach of many governments to the crisis," she said.
Hasina said both the bloody struggle for freedom and the support of the foreign friends were unprecedented in modern history.
At the beginning of her speech, Hasina paid homage to President and one of the organisers of the Liberation War Mohammad Zillur Rahman, who died on Wednesday. She said the awards would be given in the name of President Rahman and dedicated the programme to him.
The Prime Minister recalled with horror the genocide of the Pakistan army on the night of March 25, 1971 on the unarmed people of then East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was known then).
She said the Bengalis were subjected to all kinds of crime against humanity.