Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said that the BNP-Jamaat and Shibir carried out the nationwide mayhem to undermine the country’s development alongside tarnishing its image abroad, calling upon people to help arrest the culprits involved in the havoc and bring them to justice.
‘They, who are involved in such incidents, must have to be identified by searching every nook and cranny of the country, where they are staying. I am seeking support from the people to identify them and expose them to justice,’ she said after paying a visit to the BTV Bhaban at Rampura in Dhaka to inspect the rampage carried out on Thursday.
In the afternoon, the prime minister also visited Dhaka Medical College Hospital to see the injured, who came under attacks during the recent countrywide mayhem.
She went to the emergency unit of medical college at about 04:30pm and inquired about the condition of the injured and gave necessary instructions to the hospital authorities for proper treatment of the victims.
Health minister Samanta Lal Sen, state minister for health Rokeya Sultana and local lawmaker AFM Bahauddin Nasim accompanied her there.
The prime minister said that the BNP-Jamaat carried out nationwide arson terrorism and vandalism in 2013 in which they set fire on 3,800 vehicles, 29 trains and eight launches and this time they launched a massive destruction across the country from July 17 morning by cashing in on the quota reform movement.
‘The characteristic of setting ablaze this time is different compared to the prior ones. They used gunpowder in setting fire and everything was gutted to ashes at a while,’ she said.
Giving a grim picture of the mayhem, she said that they had attacked, damaged and set fire on the government establishments on the one side and on the other hand, they killed police personnel, journalists, common people and Awami League leaders and activists.
The anarchists had killed seven activists of Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling AL, in Chattogram, hanged police officials and an AL activist after killing them, she said, adding that they threw several BCL activists from a six-storey building and cut veins of hands and legs of many others centring the quota movement, she continued.
Sheikh Hasina added that the perpetrators also searched houses to find out police personnel and the leaders and activists of the Awami League in the city’s Jatrabari area.
The prime minister said that she had built government establishments with hard works at days and nights for the welfare of the country and its people.
The massive destruction was carried to malign the country’s development as well as its image abroad, she opined.
Indicating Tarique Zia, she said that he, from London, had asked Bangladeshis, residing abroad, to carry out movement against the government, aimed at tarnishing the country’s image abroad and jeopardising overseas employment of lakhs of Bangladeshis.
She added that three BNP leaders were arrested in London, while 57 Bangladeshis in the UAE, three of whom were given life term imprisonment and 20 in Saudi Arabia on charges of bring out processions.
Sheikh Hasina cleared her stance over her remarks saying that she never told the agitating students Razakar.
‘The students themselves called Razakar through chanting slogans,’ she said.
Sheikh Hasina said that she equipped the state-owned television with the latest technologies, including cameras, after coming to power for the first time in 1996 and modernised the television centre further assuming power for the second time in 2009.
She said that even the Pakistani occupation forces didn’t attack on the television. But today torched this television and damaged it so badly that nothing was spared from destruction.
‘They also destroyed metro-rail, which is a pride for every Bangladeshi.’
State minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat, cabinet secretary Md Mahbub Hossain, principal secretary Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah, information and broadcasting senior secretary Md Humayun Kabir Khandaker and PM’s speech writer M Nazrul Islam, among others, were present.
High officials including BTV director general Md Jahangir Alam gave a brief description of the rampage in the BTV Bhaban.
A video presentation on the vandalism in BTV headquarters and BTV Bhaban was screened.
On July 18, miscreants in large numbers entered the BTV Bhaban by breaking its main gate.
They first set fire on several vehicles parked at the BTV Bhaban and later, went to its inside and damaged and torched various sections on different floors.
