Khaleda denies meeting
Khaleda Zia yesterday dismissed reports of her recent meeting with government officials, saying intelligence agencies provided Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with wrong information.
"Intelligence officials have given you [Hasina] false information about the meeting as you are running out of time," said the BNP chairperson.
"I was the country's prime minister and also the opposition leader. So, even if they [public servants] meet me, what's wrong in that? However, they did not meet me,” she said at a programme organised by former pro-BNP student leaders at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital.
In her nearly an hour-long speech, Khaleda let out a barrage of allegations and warnings against the government, where threats of "a fresh movement" were the most dominant.
"We will wage a fresh anti-government movement anytime ... braving bullets and teargas," said the former premier.
“This time the streets will not be empty. I believe people, being fed up with the government's repression and looting, will join us in the movement.”
"Like your [Hasina's] father [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman] who had warned the then Pakistani government in 1971, I am also warning present administration -- don't fire any more bullets," she said to a cheering crowd inside the packed auditorium.
In an apparent move to defend her son Tarique Rahman's recent remarks against Bangabandhu, Khaleda said, "What we say are facts based on documents and information".
At a programme in London on Monday, BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique termed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman "a big Razakar". In reaction, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked Khaleda to ask her "spoilt" son to "hold his tongue".
In a counter attack yesterday, Khaleda Zia said, "You [Hasina] should also put a leash on your tongue. Though you're a self-declared prime minister of Bangladesh, the sort of language you use doesn't fit you."
"They [the ruling party] are not sparing even the foreigners now. I want to ask Hasina to restrain her tongue first before advising others," she said.
She described Chhatra League and Jubo League, the student and the youth fronts of the ruling Awami League, as "gunda [goon] leagues", and asked the PM to control them.
Khaleda, like on a number of previous occasions, accused the government of having failed to run the state and indulging in widespread corruption.
"Sheikh Hasina has destroyed the country and its future," said the BNP chief.
Turning to the judiciary, Khaleda urged the judges to perform their duties without fear or favour. "Otherwise, you will have to face ten times harsher punishment on the Judgment Day for the death penalties you wrongly deliver."
Referring to withdrawal of cases against Hasina during the army-backed caretaker government, she said those cases must be revived if proceedings of the lawsuits against her continue.
Khaleda went on to allege that the recent oil spill disaster in the Sundarbans was planned and the government was behind it.
Aman Ullah Aman, former vice president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union, chaired the convention of the pro-BNP student leaders of the 90s.
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