BANGLADESH NEWS
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her party had restored the dignity and image of the country that it had lost after the assassination of Father of the Nation and the most of his family members.
“The people of Bangladesh achieved dignity through independence, but it was lost after the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975. We've gained the lost dignity back, and this is our biggest achievement. There could be no achievement bigger than this”, she said.
The prime minister said this as Awami League leaders met her at her official residence of Gono Bhaban to greet her on the occasion of her 31st homecoming day yesterday.
On this day in 1981, Sheikh Hasina, now president of the AL, returned home after six years in exile following the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by some ambitious and disgruntled army men on August 15, 1975.
Both Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana could escape the August 15 onslaught as they were abroad when the assassination was carried out. Sheikh Hasina was elected president of AL at its three-day national council held on February 14-16, 1981.
The prime minister said her government restored the spirit of the Liberation War in the constitution through the 15th amendment. The constitution was mutilated by the successive military governments after the Bangabandhu's assassination, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said after the assassination, she and Sheikh Rehana came to Delhi from Germany, where she had stayed for six years.
AL leaders, including Dr Kamal Hossain, requested her to take the responsibility of the party to strengthen it and to mobilise public opinion worldwide against the killing of Bangabandhu, she said.
She recalled that Sajeda Chowdhury, also an AL leader, used to ask her to come to politics for ensuring the overall development of the country's people. Sheikh Hasina said she had no intention to be the chief of the party. Rather she wanted to work as an activist, she added.
But, due to repeated request of the party leaders, she agreed to serve the party with a condition that if a single leader opposed her leadership she would quit, Sheikh Hasina said.
She mentioned that Awami League was such an organisation, which could not be destroyed, as the party was born in the hands of the Father of the Nation.
Sheikh Hasina also said she always gave her all-out efforts so that the party remained united and there was no factionalisation.
In an emotion-choked voice, the prime minister said her target was how to serve the people of the country and to change the fate of its people. “My father, mother and brothers sacrificed their lives for the people of the country”.
Since her return to home, she has been trying to ensure socio-economic development of the country though the path was not so smooth, she said.
The prime minister said she always had the intention to fulfill the desires and aspirations of the common people of Bangladesh, and she had met many of those.
She said many had cautioned her not to go for the trial of the killers of Bangabandhu. “If I was scared of death, I would never return to Bangladesh”.
Mentioning that her government was working relentlessly to deliver a better and prosperous life for the country's people, the Awami League chief also asked its party workers to work in the light of the ideology of Bangabandhu.
The prime minister also recalled the memories of her exiled life and the memories of those days when she returned home 31 years ago.
Deputy Leader in Parliament Sayeda Sajeda Chowdhury, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, AL presidium members Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Selim, Kazi Jafarullah, AL advisory council member Amir Hossain Amu, Textiles and Jute Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, and other central leaders were present, among others, on the occasion.
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