None creating hindrance to country's progress will be spared, she says
Staff Correspondent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said that the government would be able to hunt down those behind the recent secret killings.
"If the government had contained the killings (by BNP-Jamaat) in broad daylight, it will be able to stop the secret killings. It is a matter of time," she said while addressing the Awami League Central Working Committee meeting at her official residence Ganabhaban.
Sheikh Hasina, also the President of the ruling Awami League, said that the killers would not be spared.
"It is not a big deal to find out the killers. They will be put on trial," she assured.
The Prime Minister said her government would find out the masterminds behind the recent spate of secret killings.
"What is the source of such crime?from where has the money come from and who are patronizing them? We will find out," she said, adding that her government has already has some information about it.
Sheikh Hasina said the countrymen will not accept such crimes no matter who is linked to the murders.
"Those, who will create hindrance to country's progress will not be spared. Acts of militancy and violence will not be allowed on the soil of the land," she said.
Urging the people to build resistance against the secret killings, the Prime Minister advised the people to resist the killers instead of witnessing gruesome attacks.
"The law enforcing agencies will be with you," she said, urging the people to resist the secret killings the way the violent movement of BNP-Jamaat has been resisted by the people.
Issuing a note of warning against the murderers, the Prime Minister reminded the killers about their families.
"Counter attack is a must. Whether they want to put their families in danger?" she said, asking the guardians to remain alert so that their children do not get involved in militancy.
Sheikh Hasina condemned such killings in the name of Islam as the religion does not accept such killing.
"The Almighty Allah will try the perpetrators. When an individual takes the responsibility of the judgement, then he/she does not obey Allah and the Prophet. That individual does not follow Islam," she said.
The Prime Minister claimed that the attack on Hindus, Buddhists and Christians has been carried out to ruin the communal harmony in Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina bashed a section of critics for condemning the government for the recent spate of secret killings.
"Why were they not active when the BNP burnt several hundred people to death in the name of movement?" she said.
Describing various development activities of the government in the last seven years, the Prime Minister said when the government has put the country on the track of development, the BNP-Jamaat nexus wanted to block the road to development.
"There will be no mercy for those who want to stop the wheel of development. We'll surely take actions against them, there'll be no room for terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh," Sheikh Hasina said.
The Prime Minister also mentioned the rehabilitation of the self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu during the regime of Ziaur Rahman.
"It is proved that they patronise the killers?.it should be realized?..they patronised the killers of Bangabandhu ?.they save the killers through martial law ordinance," she said.
"Ziaur Rahman awarded the killers jobs at foreign missions while Khaleda Zia brought the killers, Faruque and Rashid, in parliament through fake elections," she added.
Hinting at Khaleda Zia, the Prime Minister said the 21 August grenade attack would not have happened without the patronage of her (Khaleda's) government and her son.
"The grenade, which is usually used in the battlefields were used on the road of the capital," she said.
Sheikh Hasina claimed that secret killings were part of a conspiracy to foil the war crimes trials in the country.
"The war criminals, made ministers by the BNP, have been hanged. How can Khaleda Zia forget the pain? She is now taking revenge," she said.
At the beginning of the meeting, the central leaders of the ruling party presented a bouquet to the party chief marking the eighth anniversary of the release of Sheikh Hasina from jail.
On this day in 2008, Sheikh Hasina was released from the special sub-jail set up on the premises of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban after being held in captivity there for nearly 11 months.
The Awami League president was arrested from her Sudha Sadan residence at Dhanmondi on July 16 in 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government, which assumed power in the political changeover of 1/11 in 2007.
Conceding to the people's spontaneous and repeated demands and pressure from different quarters, the caretaker government was compelled to release Sheikh Hasina from jail.