DHAKA: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday (February 24) urged the countrymen to stay alert against the cohorts of 1971 war criminals saying they did not deserve forgiveness.
“Remain alert against those who upset the dignity of Independence and handed the national flag over to war criminals and anti-liberation forces", she said.
The premier also the president of Awami League was addressing a discussion of her party to mark the Amor Ekushey and International Mother Language Day-2018 in the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium at Farmgate of Dhaka.
She said some elements were still there in the country who were still shedding tears for Pakistan as their heart and mind remain in Pakistan though they are leading a comfortable life and enjoying the fruits of Bangladesh".
“The nation cannot forgive them and will not do it (and) it is my expectation to the nation", she added.
The premier said the historic Language Movement subsequently led the nation towards the struggle for independence and eventually Bangladesh earned it in exchange for blood of three million martyrs.
"But it is unfortunate for the nation that after Bangabandhu's assassination, his killers were put place in parliament, while war criminals, who raped our mothers and sisters and carried out massacre on this soil, were made ministers," she said.
"So the people will have to remain vigilant so that their confidence is not lost again and the country is not plunged into darkness like the post-1975 period," she said.
The premier, however, expressed her annoyance over a general negligence by the younger generation in learning and practicing Bangla language in a proper manner and added that she came to know that the students of other subjects could not take Bangla as a subsidiary subject.
"We will have to sit with the UGC and universities about the issue . . . why this is happening and why such negligence is shown towards Bangla," she questioned.
The premier particularly criticised private universities for not making any arrangement for teaching and learning Bangla language and literature.
"We've given permission to set up many private universities . . . but there is no arrangement for teaching and learning of Bangla language and literature at these universities, why it will be so,?" she said.
Awami League's presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru, General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Emeritus Professor and Nazrul Institute Chairman Dr Rafiqul Islam, writer and historian Dr Syed Anwar Hossain spoke the program moderated by party's publicity and publication secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud.
BDST: 2101 HRS, FEB 24, 2018
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