NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ISIS AND BNP

Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com

There is no difference between the activities of BNP-led coalition and terrorist outfits like Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as both burn people alive, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

Speaking at the meeting of Awami League’s Working Committee on Friday, she also said she could not differentiate between the activities of BNP chief Khaleda Zia and Jamaat-e-Islami.

Citing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria video that showed a captured Jordanian pilot being burnt alive in a cage, the Awami League president said, “A lot of money is needed to make petrol bombs. Khaleda Zia is spending the money to kill people.”

At least 50 people have been killed in violence during the blockade, most of them burnt alive in fire bomb attacks.

Hasina chaired the meeting at Ganabhaban.

“Her (Khaleda) perception of good and evil has been diluted. She has gone mad,” the prime minister remarked.

She said her government would take steps to ensure security and welfare of the people of Bangladesh.

“For this, I steadfastly need help and support of the people.”

She once again urged the BNP chairperson to refrain from calling shutdown and withdraw the blockade during the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations.

“Please do not destroy the lives of 1.5 million students. Ensure that the students do not have to take the exams in panic.

“Please let them sit the exams in peace. Don’t disturb them during the tests,” she said.

“Please stop now, start it some other time,” she added.

The SSC exams started on Friday after being deferred twice due to the shutdowns called by BNP.

Hasina also said her government would keep leading Bangladesh on the path of development by tackling ‘terrorism of the BNP-led coalition’.

“Khaleda does not even feel for the mothers whose children are burnt alive..

“What kind of movement is this that has no involvement of people?” she asked.

The prime minister wondered ‘how many bodies would satisfy Khaleda’.

About a dialogue, Hasina said, “I was humiliated after I called her up. Would those self-styled intellectuals who give lecture on the TV talk-shows initiate talks with her had they been insulted?”

She termed Khaleda a ‘tough mother’. “She didn’t even take the body of her son to her house. Instead of saying prayers, she came down 15 minutes after the arrival of the body.”

Khaleda’s younger son Arafat Rahman Coco died of cardiac arrest in Malaysia last month.

The prime minister mentioned Khaleda’s meetings with Kamal Hossain, Mahmudur Rahman Manna and Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed.

“She should have been in prayers. But when she came to see her son it appeared that she was all dressed up and got make-up akin to a heroine,” Hasina quipped.

“How can a person who does not bemoan the demise of her own son will feel the pain of other people?” she asked.

“Wasn’t there a single gentleman who could call me ins?” Hasina wondered, referring to her being turned away from the gates of the BNP chief’s office when she had gone to visit her bereaving arch rival.

“What kind of mother is she? Did she ever go to visit her ailing son, spend event 10 days with him and visit her grandchildren?”

“She went to Singapore for another reason. She could not be seen on the first day. Later she was seen shopping on a wheelchair pushed by Falu (her advisor Mosaddek Ali),” Hasina said.

“I have that photo. I can give it if someone wants,” she added.

The prime minister also congratulated the Bangladesh football team on beating Thailand to proceed to the Bangabandhu Gold Cup final.

“Our boys played magnificently,” she said.

After the meeting of the Awami League working committee, General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam ruled out any possibility of talks with the BNP.

“No talks with terrorists,” he declared.

“The government will firmly tackle the saboteurs,” he added.

The Awami League leader also said the BNP’s movement was not for ‘snap polls under a neutral caretaker admission’.

“It is a ploy to make the country infested with terrorists like Lebanon or Syria,” he said.

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FEBRUARY 06, 2015