Hasina says Awami League ‘never runs away from anything’

The prime minister responds to BNP’s remark that there will be no escape for the Awami League

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Awami League “never runs away from anything” and is always looking for ways to improve the lives of citizens.

After inaugurating a blood donation campaign, discussion and prayers organised by the Bangladesh Krishak League, she responded to the remarks of the BNP leaders that there will be no way for the Awami League to escape.

Hasina said such words do not suit a party whose chief, Khaleda Zia, is convicted of graft and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman of money laundering.

Khaleda lives at home, but is barred from carrying out political activities because of her suspended sentences, while Tarique is in exile in London.

“How could they say we’d have no escape? They’ve already escaped. And now the leaders of party with that fugitive convict [Tarique] at the helm are lecturing us,” Hasina said.

She said the Awami League was being tolerant though the BNP carried out violence after the 2001 election and during the 2013-15 period centring the 2014 polls.

She recalled that she and her sister Sheikh Rehana, who were abroad during the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, were barred from returning home by BNP founder Ziaur Rahman.

“The Awami League elected me as chief in my absence in 1981. We had to overcome many obstacles to return to the country. Ziaur Rahman did not let me enter my Dhanmondi 32 home after I returned that year.”

The murderers of her loved ones were “rewarded” with positions at different embassies, Hasina said.

She said military dictator HM Ershad, and Khaleda gave Bangabandhu’s killers the opportunity to form a political party and become MPs. “They encouraged the killers to carry out inhuman tasks and transformed Bangladesh into a militant country.”

Reflecting on Zia’s regime, she said people were robbed of their rights to speech and protesters would go missing. “Many of our leaders and supporters went missing in such a manner.”

Hasina thanked the people for putting the Awami League in power and said they were the core of the party’s strength.

Hasina highlighted subsidies in the agricultural sector as part of government moves for the development of the country.

“The country director of the World Bank told us that no subsidies could be provided in agriculture, otherwise it wouldn’t respond [to loan requests]. We told them we don’t need their money and that we would give the farmers our own money.”