Work for int'l recognition of Genocide Day
PM says at Independence Award ceremony
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called upon all to make joint efforts to get international recognition of the Genocide Day.
“Today is March 25, the Genocide Day. We have to make efforts to make sure that the day gets international recognition as the Genocide Day,” she said.
Some initiatives have already been taken by the government in this regard, the PM mentioned.
Hasina was addressing the Swadhinata Purashkar-2019 ceremony at the city's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
She asked all to work together to give the benefits of the hard-earned independence to every home, being imbued with the spirit of the Liberation War and ideals of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“Whenever we come to power, we try to develop the country's socio-economic condition in the quickest possible time to make Bangladesh a developed country free from hunger and poverty as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.”
She said the country would achieve 8 percent GDP growth this year and the per capita income now stands at $1,909.
Highlighting different initiatives taken by Bangabandhu, the PM said seven percent GDP growth was achieved in 1975 before his assassination.
Hasina said if Bangabandhu had been alive, the country could have been developed in five to 10 years after its independence.
But the anti-liberation forces and their international collaborators had assassinated the Father of the Nation as a part of their conspiracy as they realised that Bangladesh would soon achieve economic emancipation under his visionary leadership, she mentioned.
The PM said the country's economic development was stopped with the assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975.
“We assumed power after 21 years and started building Bangladesh as a developed country, following Bangabandhu's footsteps and ideals.”
The premier handed over Swadhinata Purashkar-2019 to 13 eminent personalities and an organisation for their outstanding contributions to their respective fields.
The awardees are martyred intellectual Mufazzal Haider Chowdhury (posthumous), martyred ATM Zafar Alam (posthumous), AKM Mozammel Haque, Mosharraf Hossain, Kazi Misbahun Nahar, Abdul Khalek (posthumous), Prof Mohammad Khaled (posthumous) and Shawkat Ali Khan (posthumous) in independence and Liberation War, Brig Gen Dr Nurun Nahar Fatema Begum in medical science, Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad in social service, Murtaza Bashir in culture, Hasan Azizul Haque in literature, Prof Hasina Khan in research and training and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture in science and technology.
Each winner was given a medal, Tk 3 lakh and a citation. Mosharraf Hossain, among the award winners, spoke on the occasion.
The chief justice, cabinet members, PM's advisers, lawmakers, chiefs of the three services, foreign diplomats, freedom fighters, and top civil and military officials were present.