Finland, June 6 – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged expatriate Awami League leaders and workers to give a befitting reply to the BNP-Jamaat which, she said, is carrying out false propaganda and hatching conspiracies against the country.
“The BNP-Jamaat clique is out to tarnish the country’s image by orchestrating conspiracies and carrying out false propaganda against the country. So, the expatriate Awami Leaders and activists will have to give a befitting reply to this,” she told a reception in Helsinki on Wednesday evening.
All European Awami League and Finland Awami League accorded the reception to the Prime Minister at Hotel Kamp.
Sheikh Hasina said the BNP-Jamaat alliance siphoned off huge money from the country which they earned illegally and they have appointed lobbyists with it to carry out false propaganda against the country.
The Prime Minister also directed the expatriate AL men to project Bangladesh’s tremendous development abroad. “Those who will be successful in brightening the country’s image will be evaluated in the party properly,” she said.
She said Eid holidaymakers were able to make almost hassle-free travel on roads during their Eid journey as better arrangements were made for rail, river and air communications for the homebound people.
Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, said her government is working untiringly for the country’s development and people started getting its benefits.
Paying tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, she said the government is working tirelessly to materialise his dream of establishing a hunger- and -poverty-free Sonar Bangla.
About terrorism, militancy and corruption unleashed during the BNP-Jamaat rule, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh became champion in graft for five times when they were in power.
Blaming the BNP-Jamaat alliance for the 1/11 political changeover, she said the caretaker government took over power at that time due to the misdeeds of the BNP-Jamaat government.
Hasina recalled the cooperation of the expatriates to ensure her return to the country during the caretaker government and restore democracy in Bangladesh.
She also mentioned the contributions of the expatriates to the country’s economic development.
Highlighting the country’s massive socioeconomic uplift over the last 10 years, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh was once known as a country of famine, cyclone and tidal surge but now it is the role model of development in the world.
Pointing out her government’s steps for expanding the social safety net programme, she said no single person will remain hungry and homeless.
Hasina said her government is setting up 100 special economic zones across the country for industrial development and employment generation.
She said the just-concluded OIC Summit held in the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia adopted a resolution to take the Rohingya issue to the International Court of Justice following her proposal.
All European Awami League President Dr Nazrul Islam, UK chapter AL President Sultan Mahmud Sharif and Finland AL President Md Ali Ramjan also spoke on the occasion. – UNB
