Alleging that Khaleda Zia has become a leader of militants and terrorists instead of a political party, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday warned that the government will do whatever is necessary for saving the lives and property of people as it cannot tolerate violence. “To save the lives of the people of Bangladesh, save their property and ensure their security, we’ll do whatever is necessary, no one will be allowed to stop us,” she told a mammoth public rally at the city’s historic Suhrawardy Udyan. The ruling party organised the rally marking the Homecoming Day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hasina, also the President of Awami League, was the chief guest at the rally held with AL Presidium member and Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair. Hasina, also the Awami League president, said the BNP chief unleashed a reign of terror on January 5 this year like what she did the previous year. “We’ll never ever allow them to carry out any repression on people.” The Prime Minister reiterated that it was a wrong political decision of Khaleda Zia not to participate in the January-5 election last year. “Why should the country’s people pay the price for that? That was your (Khaleda) wrong decision, you have to pay for that, your party have to pay for that, why are you torturing the people of the country,” Hasina questioned. The Prime Minister said the government cannot allow the defeated forces — Albadr, Razakars, militants and terrorists — to play with the fate of people. “We can’t tolerate this,” she said. Awami League leaders Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mohammad Nasim, Syed Ashraful Islam, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, MA Aziz, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and AFM Bahauddin Nasim also spoke at the rally.—UNB, Dhaka
