RN Desk : DHAKA, Feb 3, 2013 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the trial of Opposition Leader Begum Khaleda Zia and her cadres and cohorts will also be held in the country for killing people in the name of movement to save war criminals.

“Whatever movement you stage and whatever people you kill, you could not stop the trial of war criminals as it is a demand of the nation and the people. Rather the trial of you and your cadres and cohorts will be held on the soil of the country Insha Allah for killing people and policemen by firing shot and pouring petrol,” she categorically said.

The Prime Minister was addressing a mammoth public rally at Kamrangirchar in the city this afternoon.

Dhaka-2 (Keraniganj, Savar and Kamrangirchar) constituency of city Awami League arranged the rally on the occasion of inauguration of a number of development projects.

With State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and local lawmaker Advocate Quamrul Islam in the chair, the rally was addressed, among others, by LGRD and Cooperatives Minister and AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, Dhaka District AL President Benzir Ahmed, MP, Dhaka City AL President MA Aziz and General Secretary Moafazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Nasrul Hamid Bipu, MP, Secchasebak League President Mollah Md Abu Kawsar and Chhatra League President HM Badiuzzaman Sohag.

Reiterating her firm commitment to complete the trial of the 1971 culprits who committed the crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971, Sheikh Hasina said the present government had pledged to the people before the last general election to hold the trial of war criminals.

“We have already got a verdict in this regard and the trial of the remaining war criminals would be completed Insha Allah to free the nation from 42-year-long stigma,” she said.

The Prime Minister said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had initiated the trial of criminals after promulgating an ordinance in 1972. In its continuation, she said, 11,000 identified Razakars and Al-badrs were detained at the time.

“But after the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975, General Ziaur Rahman had stopped the trial and released the war criminals from the jail. Zia not only released the 1971 culprits, he also rehabilitated them politically by making them ministers and MPs,”
she said.

Urging the people to cast their votes for Awami League again for continuation of development, the Prime Minister said AL has brought independence and ensured development of the country.

“We have liberated the country under the leadership of Bangabandhu and we would build a hunger and poverty-free prosperous Bangladesh by 2021, if we are voted to power again,”
she said.

The Prime Minister said her only aim is to ensure welfare of the people. “I have nothing to gain and no personal ambition. My only thinking is how the people would lead a peaceful life with all basic needs,” she said.

“Our goal is also to build Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous country and it would be placed as a dignified nation on the world stage by rooting out corruption and terrorism,” she added.

Sheikh Hasina said the country was turned into a paradise of terrorism, militancy and corruption during rule of BNP-Jamaat alliance government. The people at that time witnessed unbridled terrorism, militancy, corruption, bomb blasts and extortion, she said.

She said her government has contained terrorism, corruption and militancy with an iron hand and as a result, the people are now leading a peaceful life. “We are making proper utilization of the people’s tax money for the development of the country,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina expressed gratitude to the people of Kamrangirchar for voting for the Awami League in the last elections, saying that the area witnessed massive development in the last four years as the people had given mandate to us.”

She said Kamrangirchar, which was once extremely neglected, witnessed the touch of true development during the present government. A project has been undertaken to build a two and a half miles beri badh (embankment) to protect the area from flood, she said.

The Prime Minister announced that the unions of Dhaka city which remain out of the city corporation would be brought under the city corporation for the development of their inhabitants.