UNB, Dhaka :
Accusing BNP Chairperson Khalead Zia of unleashing violence by her ‘terrorist outfits’, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the BNP chief to rein in her ‘terrorist and hooligan groups’.
“You (Khaleda) must control these elements…you let loose them against Awami League leaders and workers. Each person has the right to lead a peaceful life and we will surely take action whatever necessary to protect that right,” she said.
Hasina said this while talking to journalists after visiting the National Orthopeadic Hospital to see the condition of Awami League and Chhatra League leaders who were critically injured in the attack by BNP and Jamaat-Shibir terrorists after and before the 10th general election held on January 5.
She also asked the BNP chief whether she is aware of the misdeeds of her leaders and workers across the country or not.
Expressing her firm stance against terrorism, the Prime Minister said the government would take stern action against terrorism.
“Shedding crocodile’s tears will be of no use… I would like to tell her the efforts she is making to prove innocence of her terrorists is her mistake,” she said.
Responding to the allegation of Khaleda Zia that over 29,000 party leaders and workers of BNP have been arrested till January 31, Sheikh Hasina said that all those whose names she read out at a press conference on Tuesday have been identified as terrorists.
Referring to the brutal attack on a woman union council member of Kansat, Hasina said the tendons of her hands and legs were severed and the terrorists stabbed in her chest at the directives of a local BNP leader.
“Those who attacked the woman brutally are not children of their mothers. How a person who grows up in his mother’s womb and takes her breast-milk could attack a woman in such a brutal way?” she said angrily.
Hasina also categorically said that the government must take action against that BNP leader.
The Prime Minister said the BNP chief does not understand anything except terrorism. “Her (Khaleda’s) only work is to carry out terrorism and kill people and she understands these misdeeds very well,” she added.
She alleged that BNP leaders and activists are unleashing atrocities on the Awami League leaders and workers as well as other pro-liberation forces as per the directives of Khaleda Zia. “She is responsible for the atrocities she has already proved it,” she said.
Responding to a question, Hasina she said that the movement of BNP-Jamaat is aimed at killing people and they are doing this in districts. “They feel happy in killing people.”
In response to another, the premier said the government is taking actions, and everybody will be brought to book who are behind these attacks. “We won’t tolerate such activities,” she added.
Replying to a further query whether there is any negligence of duty by the administration, Hasina said the government will arrest the responsible persons and take punitive actions against them.
“The administration is not sitting idle…they’re taking actions when there is any incident. The terrorists are carrying out these attacks suddenly,” she said.
The Prime Minister said BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men killed numerous leaders and workers of Awami League and its associate bodies as well as general people in Chapainawabganj, Satkhira, Rajshahi, Gazipur and Sylhet and other areas. They have killed 16-17 leaders and workers in Rajshahi alone, she said.
Hasina said, steps have been taken to ensure safe return of those who fled their houses after becoming the victims of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir atrocities.
Earlier, the Prime Minister talked to the wounded AL and BCL leaders and workers and assured them that the government will do everything possible to ensure their better treatment. She also directed the on-duty doctors to take care of them round the clock.
A heart-rending scene was created when the injured leaders and workers were narrating the barbaric incidents before the Prime Minister.
Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, State Minister for Health Jahid Malek Swapon, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak,MP, and Advocate Rahmat Ali,MP, were, among others, present.
A total of nine leaders and workers of Awami League and Chhatra League from Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Gazipur and Sylhet are undergoing treatment at the Orthopedic Hospital.
Among the wounded persons, Noorjahan Begum, a union council member of Kansat in Chapainwabganj, was attacked by BNP-Jamat terrorists on January 22 last. The terrorists cut the tendons of her two hands and legs and stabbed in her breasts.
Besides Noorjahan Begum, four members of a family-mother and three sisters-of Sripur Upazila and Billal Hosain of Sribordi Upazila under Gazipur district, who became the victims of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir atrocities were admitted to the hospital.
