Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said her government is continuing its all-out efforts to restore peace in the country and renewed her call to BNP-Jamaat and other partners of the 20-party alliance to shun the destructive acts asserting that the Bengali nation would never concede defeat to terrorists.
“We’re continuing our efforts so that peace is restored in the country and there is no reoccurrence of bombings, burning people and such subversive acts. I’m urging again the BNP-Jamaat to refrain from such kind of subversive acts,” she said.
Hasina further said, “They (BNP-Jamaat) have to refrain from such acts, or else they’ll have to face the wrath of common people one day, and there’s no doubt about it.”
The Prime Minister was addressing the inauguration of the month-long Ekushey Book Fair-2015 and the four-day Second International Literary Conference-2015 on the Bangla Academy premises in the afternoon. She said, whenever the door of immense possibilities is opened before Bangladesh, then come severe attacks on it. “The Bengali nation would never concede defeat to those terrorists engaged in such militant acts.”
People from all strata would have to stand against such acts, Hasina adding, “We don’t want to see anymore the pains and screams of people suffering burn injuries, smell the flesh of burnt people. We want the security of each and every person ….we want to see the lives of all filled with peace and prosperity.” Turning again to the ongoing violence and arson unleashed by the BNP-Jamaat in the name of hartal and blockade, the Prime Minister said this is unfortunate when the country’s people were enjoy peace and looking forward to a bright future, a ‘black cloud’ surrounded their lives. “It’s still not understandable why such situation has been created?”
Hasina said, if anyone makes a wrong decision in politics, he or she would have to pay a political price for that but why the innocent people would have to suffer for his or her mistake?
“This (hurling petrol bombs) could never be a movement, rather is a terrorist and militant act and we want such terrorist and militant act be stamped out from the country for ever,” she added. Recalling that such a situation was also created before the January-5 polls to thwart that the general election, the PM said her government had been able to overcome that situation through holding fair polls while was running on the right path of socio-economic development until this so-called movement.
Regarding the deferment of the SSC exams, Hasina said her government did not want to push the examinees to risk since the perpetrators and the miscreants even do not bother about the lives of children and it was very unfortunate.
The Prime Minister termed Ekushey Book Fair a ‘Greater Banagalees’ Praner Mela’ and stressed the need for spreading Bengali culture and literature from village to village to develop an educated nation. She said, only an educated nation could turn Bangladesh as a poverty-free prosperous country.
With Emeritus Prof Dr Anisuzzaman in the chair, the function was also addressed, among others, by Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, German Litterateur Dr Hans Hurder, French writer Dr France Bhattacharya, Belgian’s litterateur Father Datien and Former VC of Rabindra Bharati University Dr Pabitra Sarker, while DG of Bangla Academy Shamsuzzaman Khan gave the welcome address.
The Prime Minister also distributed Bangla Academy Literary Award-2014 among seven eminent poets, writers and educationists for their contributions to various disciplines. Each recipient was also given a crest, a certificate and a cheque of Tk one lakh each. Shihab Sarkar received the award in poetry, while Zakir Talukdar in prose, Shantanu Kaiser in essay and Bhuiyan Iqbal in research. Among others, Abu Mohammad Delwar Hossain got the award for his work on the Liberation War, Bangladeshi expatriate writer Mainus Sultan in the biography and travelogue category and Khaleque Bin Zainuddin for juvenile literature.
Later, the Prime Minister visited different stalls on the Bangladesh Academy premises. A total of 48 poets, writers, linguistics and litterateurs from 11 foreign countries, including the US, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Malaysia and India alongside host Bangladesh are joining the International Literary Conference.
Like previous year, the fair has been expanded to the Suhrawardy Uddyan adjacent to the traditional site for the Ekushey Book Fair, the Bangla Academy premises.
About 565 unit stalls have already been set up at the Ekushey Book Fair venue, including adjacent Suhrawardy Udyan, with the participation of nearly 351 publishers and other organizations. Besides, 11 pavilions have also been set up for the first time at the book fair venue.
