2024-08-01 13:19:36
Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina said, ‘If a thing is lost, it can be recovered, but if life is lost, it cannot be recovered. And those who have lost their loved ones, the mother who has lost her child, the child who has lost her father, no one else should understand her pain, I understand.’
He said, ‘This month of August… I returned to this Bangladesh with the pain of losing my parents and brothers, depriving my children of mother’s love for the people of this country. They will have a better life, the benefits of freedom, everyone will eat their fill, everyone will be educated and freed from poverty. If the country is prosperous, everyone will have a better life.’
He said these things at the voluntary blood donation program, discussion meeting and doa mahfil organized by Krishak League at Krishibid Institute Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium in Khamarbari of the capital on Thursday (August 1).
The government abolished the quota system and now more than the demand is being given, the prime minister said, adding that their demand did not stop. What was behind it? Militants entered the quota movement and carried out murders on the one hand, on the other hand, the institutions that serve people… disaster management buildings are set on fire to save people, to provide services; Arson at BTV. Bringing the entire country under one network, burning that bridge building. Even Metrorail, expressway, data center, various places of health department were attacked. The modern garbage trucks of the city corporation were burnt. There was no water treatment plant in Dhaka before, I did it, there was a fire. The people will be a little better, will be healthy, all of them will be burned with fire. What kind of movement is it?
The head of government said that the loss of life that occurred today, where the demand has been accepted 100%; What is the justification for continuing the movement there, in whose interests, why? The police have been killed. Not just murder, what a horrible sight to see. He was killed and hanged with his feet up. Party workers were killed in Gazipur. He went to the hospital for treatment, was taken out and shot with his legs hanging from a tree. Attack on the police! Police, RAB vehicles were burnt.
In an emotional voice, he said, four children died. You have received news of many deaths. Since seventy five we have only seen the procession of corpses. This time over two hundred people died. The structures that are broken, people are suffering. Even if it is a little late, they can be built, but the lives that were destroyed, the little children were shot, how did these bullets hit? Then lies. The boy, near the window in the two-story house, was shot. You say, how will the bullets from the helicopter enter the house?
The Prime Minister said, ‘When the police got stuck in the BTV, they tried to put out the fire with helicopters and water. Because, the fire service could not go. The most modern vehicles of the fire service were burnt. People were killed and driven away. Forced to try with a helicopter. I rescued the policemen trapped on the roof of the building with a helicopter.’
He said that our scholars are supporting this movement. What is supporting? The demand has been met. Then again down like this… In fact, ordinary students were hurt. But, those who carry out terrorist and militant activities based on this movement, the common people are the victims. I went to see the injured, almost all of them were ordinary working people. How will their life go on? Doing a sabotage like this is a militant act.
On August 15, 1975, Bangabandhu’s daughter became emotional remembering the loss of her parents and brothers. He said, we form the government through agitation and struggle. Our path was not so easy. I faced death again and again. Wherever I went, I got obstacles. Sometimes direct firing, attacks, burying large bombs in public meetings, constantly had to deal with this situation. Countless Awami League leaders gave their lives.
Before this, prayers and prayers were offered in memory of those killed in the recent violence and in memory of the martyrs of August 15. Later, the Prime Minister inaugurated the blood donation programme.
Awami League Advisory Council Member Advocate Yusuf Hussain Humayun, Agricultural Affairs Secretary Faridunnahar Laili and others also spoke at the meeting under the chairmanship of Krishak League President Sameer Chandra and General Secretary Ummul Kulsoom Smriti.