Threats won’t silence people: Hasina responds to Dr Kamal’s ‘shut up’ remarks

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has questioned Jatiya Oikya Front alliance leaders, who talk about ethics and morality, contesting in the election with the symbol picked up by convicted war criminals’ relatives and party leaders.

Speaking at a Martyred Intellectuals Day programme in Dhaka on Friday afternoon, she reacted sharply to the alliance chief Dr Kamal Hossain’s angry reply to reporters on the Jamaat-e-Islami.

“Will people become silent if you ask them to shut up? No, they won’t. People’s voice can’t be choked. This is the reality,” she said.

Shut up: Dr Kamal Hossain to reporters

The BNP, a key partner of the Jamaat-e-Islami which opposed Bangladesh’s independence during the Liberation War, is also the chief ally of Dr Kamal-led Gono Forum party in the Oikya Front.

Both Jamaat and the Oikya Front parties are contesting in the Dec 30 parliamentary election with the BNP’s ‘paddy sheaf’ symbol.

Hasina said such partnership with the anti-liberation forces like the Jamaat is a “matter of shame”. 

Many of the family members and relatives of the Jamaat leaders convicted of crimes against humanity have been given positions in the BNP’s coalitions, she said.

“Now I would like to ask them (Oikya Front leaders) – how can they contest in the election with the same symbol that is being used by the collaborators of the Pakistani forces whom we defeated?” 

“I don’t know if they can answer this question before the nation. And yes, they have a little less shame as you’ve seen how he (Dr Kamal) asked one to ‘Shut Up!’ when he faced questions (on Jamaat),” she said.

The prime minister detailed backgrounds of a horde of ‘paddy sheaf’ candidates, including Nazibur Rahman Momen and Shameem Sayedee, to back her claim that the BNP and its allies were harbouring war criminals and militants. 

Nazibur’s father Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami was hanged for his involvement in the mass killings of intellectuals, Hasina noted. She added that Shameem’s father Delwar Hossain Sayedee is serving jail term until death for crimes against humanity.

She also named several BNP picks in the Rajshahi region, including Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, who she said “spawned militancy in Bangladesh”.

Slating Dr Kamal once again for “joining hands with war criminals and terrorists”, Hasina questioned the words of ethics from him and his allies like Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed of the Jatiya Oikya Prokriya and Krishak Sramik Janata League President Abdul Kader Siddique. 

“Where is their conscience now after lecturing people about humanity, against corruption?” she asked, referring to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, who is serving total 17 years in jail for corruption.

“The sentences for those made ministers by the BNP have been executed for committing crimes against humanity. How will the BNP and its allies hide their shame now?” she asked.