Attackers of Hindus to be punished

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hands over a cheque to a victim of the atrocities carried out on the Hindus at Malopara of Abhaynagar in Jessore right after the January 5 polls. The PM went to visit the area yesterday. Photo: PID

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government would not tolerate any sort of terrorism and militancy in the country.
"For this, we will take whatever stringent action is required. We will ensure people's safety and security," she said while addressing a public rally at Noapara Shankarpasha High School ground in Abhaynagar of Jessore.
People of Bangladesh believe in communal harmony. They do not believe in communal violence. They do not like hostilities, confrontation and destructions rather they want to live in peace, Hasina said.
"We will also not tolerate anybody's interference in the rights of others … We have ensured the rights of people from all religious faiths bringing amendment to the constitution."
The premier also regretted that BNP along with Jamaat have been hatching conspiracy against the people of the country.
Portraying a grim picture of the atrocities by Jamaat-Shibir men at different places following the parliament polls, she said, "The extent of atrocities and repression let loose by them can't be expressed in language.
"The only offence the voters committed was that they had turned up for polling although it was their constitutional right."
She said, "Jamaat is such a political party that opposed the independence of Bangladesh and it was also banned for killing the minorities."
After the independence, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initiated their trial but BNP allowed and rehabilitated them in the country's politics freeing the war criminals.
"BNP didn't try the war criminals rather rewarded the killers of Bangabandhu and patronised the war criminals. It [BNP] has still been patronising them," she added.
"BNP chairperson doesn't like election. Could it be termed as her movement to kill people by setting them on fire in her bid to prevent the polls?" Hasina posed a question.
Congratulating the people who voted in the polls, the premier said, 40-45 percent vote had been cast in the parliamentary election although the BNP-led combine urged people to boycott the polls.
"People of the country did not respond to her [Khaleda Zia] call for boycotting the polls though she tried to foil the election by killing people, torching educational institutions and felling trees," she said.
BNP-Jamaat succeeded in killing people and in corruption. It is a reality that they could not involve people in their so-called movement, Hasina told her audience.
Jessore district unit Awami League president Ali Reza Raju chaired the rally.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Narayan Chandra Chanda, Kazi Nabil Ahmed MP, among others, were present.
Earlier, the premier went to Malopara village in Abhaynagar upazila and distributed cheques among the affected family members of Hindu community there.
Conveying her sympathy to the families, Hasina said, her government would take whatever stringent action is necessary to ensure peace and security for every citizen of the country.
On the night of January 5, BNP-Jamaat activists vandalised and looted 130 houses and torched 10 others of Hindus at the village.