Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday (Nov 21) said nothing can be achieved through arson violence, expressing her hope that the BNP-Jamaat alliance will come back to their sense to put an end to the anarchy. "Nothing can be achieved through burning people to death. This is wrong. Something can be gained by the power of general people. Working for the people's welfare and staying beside them are other requirements to achieve something," she said. The PM was addressing a reception accorded to the gallantry award winning freedom fighters of the armed forces and their heirs at the Army Multipurpose Complex at Dhaka Cantonment marking the Armed Forces Day in the morning. She also presented peacetime awards to the selected members of the armed forces for their outstanding contribution to their respective fields during 2022-23, local media reported.
The PM said the path of arson violence is to be shunned to achieve something, wishing that the BNP-Jamaat clique will come back to their sense to stop the arson violence to relieve the countrymen from suffering. The BNP-Jamaat clique has started recurrence of the arson terrorism likewise 2013-14 in the name of movement to dislodge the government. "We had seen the incidents of burning people to death by the Pakistani occupation forces during the War of Liberation in 1971. BNP-Jamaat has started the same thing. I don't know how a man can burn people to death. I want they come back to their sense," she said.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, PM’s Security Adviser Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Chief of Army Staff General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Nazmul Hassan, and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan were present on the dais. Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of the Armed Forces Division (AFD) Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman gave the address of welcome.
The PM earlier in the morning paid glowing tributes to the martyred members of the Bangladesh Armed Forces by placing a wreath at the Shikha Anirban (flame eternal) in Dhaka Cantonment on the occasion of the Armed Forces Day-2023.
After the wreath-placing ceremony, the PM went to the AFD where her security adviser and chiefs of the three services made a courtesy call on her.
The PM asked the countrymen to remain cautious against any conspiracy hindering Bangladesh development. "We have to be more alert as various types of conspiracy are being hatched," she said. She also said her government has achieved the status of a developing country by confronting such conspiracies.
The PM said Bangladesh will start its journey as the developing nation from 2026, adding, "We are taking preparations for it." She said Bangladesh is changed in the last 15 years by reaching electricity to every house, managing education, treatment, food and housing for all alongside making huge development of the country that led to getting developing nation status.
"We have to continue the development spree overcoming all the hurdles – we have been working with a target to give all the countrymen an improved life," she said. The PM said her government has been working to transform Bangladesh a developed, prosperous and Smart One by 2041. "We have to take lesson from the past and march forward by competing with the global technology," she said.
The PM said Bangalee is a victorious nation as it had defeated the Pakistani occupation forces during the Liberation War in 1971. She recalled the contribution of the allied force with gratitude in liberating the country.
On this day during the War of Liberation in 1971, the Bangladesh Armed Forces, comprising Army, Navy and Air Force, came into being and launched an all-out attack on the Pakistani occupation forces which expedited the victory of the country.
After the independence of the country, this historic day is being observed as the Armed Forces Day every year.
The PM said she has been working to honour the freedom fighters and their family members irrespective of party and opinion since her party assumed office.
She said they have taken various measures that included preserving the Liberation War related places and preparing the list of freedom fighters so the history never lost.
She also said that the Joy Bangla slogan and the historic Mar 7 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been banned after 1975 changeover. But, the historic Mar 7 speech of Bangabandhu had got recognition of UNESCO as the best speech in the history of 2500 years and the Joy Bangla slogan has become the national slogan by the country's apex court verdict, she said. "These are our achievements," she added.
