Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged citizens to stay alert so that Bangladesh does not plunge into a dark-era like the one immediately after 1975.
"We must not plunge into danger... We all must remain alert so that we don't step into a dark-era like the one post-1975." she said.
The prime minister was addressing a discussion, organized by Awami League on the occasion of Amar Ekushey and the International Mother Language Day, at the Krishibid Institution auditorium in Dhaka in the afternoon.
Hasina, also the ruling party president, said there was a section of people living in Bangladesh inheriting Pakistani souls. "We have to save the people of Bangladesh from such elements....this is my request to people.”
Hinting towards BNP, she mentioned that it was very regretful that a political party had made the convicted war criminals ministers and put the national flag earned through blood in their hands.
"The nation will never forgive those culprits... the people of the country have to remain vigil regarding those who honour those culprits who raped our mothers and sisters, got involved in genocide, arson attacks and looting... the nation must not forgive those culprits," Hasina said.
She said the use of the mother tongue had to be ensured at all levels of life.
Talking about the writing of court verdicts, the prime minister said those in the lower court were written in Bangla whereas the higher courts were still using English.
"We hope the verdicts in the higher courts will be in Bengali in the future. As it has been a matter of long practice, it's not possible to change it overnight," she said.
She said due to the delivery of verdicts in English, the common people were facing serious problems and they had to depend on their lawyers to understand those.
Hasina also sharply criticized the recent trend of uttering Bangla words in an English accent, saying: "I do not know why this sort of pronunciation has started. This is very much unfortunate."
She, however, said she was not against learning other languages and welcomed that idea.
The prime minister emphasized the learning of second language to get jobs at home and abroad, and earn money online.
"But we have to practice our language for which we had given our blood. This is our mother tongue. We have to learn this from our families," she said.
The Awami League chief urged her party leaders and activists to uphold the ideology with which the country was liberated and devote themselves to make Bangladesh a hunger and poverty free country as dreamt by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
She also highlighted the history of the 1952 Language Movement and said the pride of immortal Ekushey now resounded in the hearts of the people of 193 countries transcending the boundary of Bangladesh.
The prime minister paid tributes to Bangabandhu and recalled his role in establishing Bangla as the state language. She also remembered the contributions of Awami League to all movements -- from the Language Movement to the 1971 Liberation War.
Awami League Presidium Members Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Abdur Razzaq and Abdul Matin Khasru, Prof Emeritus Rafiqul Islam and former Bangla Academy director general Prof Syed Anwar Hossain also took part in Saturday’s discussion.
Earlier, a one-minute silence was observed as a mark of profound respect to the memory of the Language Movement heroes who laid down their lives on February 21, 1952 for establishing Bangla as the state language.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
