‘Ex- PM Hasina to face execution if she returns’

National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener and Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam on Monday said ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would be taken directly to the gallows if she returns to Bangladesh from India.

“Sheikh Hasina will be taken straight from the airport to the gallows. If Tarique Rahman [Prime Minister] strikes a deal with Delhi to arrange her return, we are ready to carry out Hasina’s execution,” he said.

Nahid made the remarks while addressing a discussion titled One-Point Demand in the Voice of Martyrs’ Families and the Injured, organised by the NCP at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh auditorium in Kakrail.

He said the families of 1,400 martyrs and 30,000 injured participants of the July uprising would take to the streets and continue their protest until Hasina’s execution is carried out if she returns to the country.

Criticising the BNP government, Nahid accused it of protecting its own wrongdoings in a way similar to the Awami League in the past. He said BNP leaders themselves had acknowledged that corruption and bribery remained unchanged over the past five months.

The NCP leader alleged that a narrative is being pushed portraying Prime Minister Tarique Rahman as good while blaming others, similar to the propaganda once used to defend Hasina.

He alleged that the public continues to suffer due to gas shortages in households and lack of electricity, while politicisation persists across institutions, including the police.

Nahid alleged widespread extortion and corruption, claiming the only change over the past two years is that Tarique Rahman returned from London to become prime minister.

Expressing disappointment over the lack of government initiatives for the families of martyrs, he said BNP has yet to take any steps for the martyrs and the injured, stressing that martyrs’ families are a national asset who gave their lives for the liberation of the people, not to install anyone in power.

“We did not launch this movement to attain power. We declared the abolition of the fascist system. We will not allow this country to become a haven for autocracy, corruption and extortion again,” the opposition chief whip said.

Among others, NCP Member Secretary Akhter Hossen, Chief Organiser for Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary, Northern Region Sarjis Alam, Jatiya Nari Shakti Member Secretary Mahmuda Mitu, its Chief Organiser Nusrat Tabassum, and members of martyrs’ families were present at the discussion.