Land deal a political, diplomatic success
Dedicating the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with India to the people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Bangladesh still has "a long way to go".
"What we have achieved so far is not a big deal. We have a long way to go. We'll have to take the country to the highest peak of development," she said at a reception programme in the capital yesterday.
Hasina, also the president of the ruling Awami League, said she did not fear death and would make any sacrifice for the welfare of the nation.
Jatiya Nagorik Committee, a platform of pro-AL civil society members, accorded the mass reception to the prime minister "for her dynamic leadership that brought many successes for the nation, including the long-awaited Land Boundary Agreement".
Terming the LBA a political and diplomatic success, Hasina said: "Apart from implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement, the government's present aim is to ensure development of this region through regional cooperation."
"Bangladesh will be built as a developed and prosperous nation in South Asia," she said to thunderous applause from several thousand people.
On the deal that will see the two neighbours swapping 162 enclaves, Sheikh Hasina said: "We needed no third party for the Land Boundary Agreement. We [Bangladesh and India] have been able to resolve every problem through bilateral talks. Very few neighbouring countries in the world can attain this kind of achievements through bilateral talks."
"Bangladesh is advancing fast socio-economically. Many had predicted that Bangladesh, if liberated, would be a bottomless basket. I want to say to them that Bangladesh is no more a bottomless basket today. Bangladesh's basket is full of developments. And the country is an example to the whole world."
Hasina said when she used to travel abroad in the past, she often found people neglecting Bangladesh. "But today the country has stood on its own feet."
The premier also sought blessings and cooperation from all to complete the trials of all war criminals.
At the programme, a new honorific title -- Deshratno -- was conferred on Sheikh Hasina. When noted wordsmith Syed Shamsul Haque, who chaired the programme, proposed that the new title would be used before Sheikh Hasina's name from now on, virtually everyone in the audience raised their hands in support.
Cultural personality Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman, Shaheed Jaya Shyamoli Nasrin Chowdhury, former captain of Bangladesh cricket team Akram Khan, educationist Dr Anupam Sen, economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad and historian Muntasir Mamun also spoke at the programme.
Ministers, lawmakers, AL leaders, vice-chancellors of different public universities, senior government officials, freedom fighters, cultural personalities, artists, students and people from different other professions attended the programme defying intermittent rainfall.
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