Keep ‘anti-liberation elements’ away from power for ever: PM

Bangladesh Awami League (AL) president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged all to remain alert so that what she said the anti-liberation elements can never come to power, reports UNB.

"This independence was earned at the cost of the blood of tens of thousands of people. Those who want to foil our independence should never come to power," she said while addressing a discussion in the capital's Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh auditorium.

"The country shouldn't be of militancy, anti-liberation forces and war criminals... it should be built based on the ideology of freedom fighters," added the prime minister.

Ruling Bangladesh Awami League arranged the discussion marking the 48th Independence and National Day.

The prime minister said it is internationally recognised that her family members are not involved in any corruption though Awami League is now in power.

"Coming to power, BNP [Bangladesh Nationalist Party] hired a special agency to level corruption charges against me, my sister [Sheikh Rehana], and my son and daughter. But it found nothing," she said, adding that BNP made Bangladesh the world champion in corruption for five times.

In an oblique reference to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, she said he had also made an attempt in the US to find if there was any corruption against her family members.

Without mentioning his name, Hasina said he stopped the World Bank's fund for the Padma bridge project.

"They tried to put corruption blame on us. I also threw a challenge and told them to prove it. But they couldn't prove it... the Canadian Federal Court dismissed all the allegations as false," she claimed.

Hasina criticised Khaleda Zia's family, claiming that they indulged in corruption and money-laundering after assuming power.

The prime minister said the court meted out punishment to the BNP chief and the government has nothing to do in this regard. "Had we had any intention to arrest her [Khaleda], we could have done so when the fire terrorism was unleashed."

She said her government's only goal is to reach benefits of the independence to every doorstep across the country.

Hasina said they want to work not for their personal gain but for making the country's people wealthy and improving their lifestyle.