Others loot, we contribute: Hasina

Dhaka, June 23 (bdnews24.com) ? Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has claimed all but her party plundered public money whenever they were in power since the very independence.

"People get something when Awami League is in office, others loot or launder," she said on Thursday at a meeting on the 62nd anniversary of Awami League.

The party president said the country gets its rewards when the Awami League comes to power but is reprimanded during the BNP's term in office.

She also highlighted a number of initiatives taken by the party since its formation on this day in 1949.

"Whatever we do, we do it for the country, for the people," she added.

The programme, held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, was also attended by leaders of the ruling Grand Alliance allies, apart from party leaders and activists.

The day's celebrations began with hoisting of the national and party flags by Hasina and party general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam simultaneously.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister laid wreaths at the mural of independence hero and party founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhanmondi 32.

Citing several initiatives taken by the present government, Hasina said, "The grand alliance government is working only for the people's better future."

She said, "We won't let anybody to play with their fortune as we are determined to restore the looted goods to their rightful owners ? the people."

She said, "I've never feared death in my fight for the people's right and I'm even ready to make any sacrifice in the future."

While criticising the BNP-Jamaat alliance government's term on 2001-2006, the country became a safe route for the arms launderers and a country of militancy.

Constitution review committee co-chair Suranjit Sengupta said, "The caretaker provision stayed for 18 years. Protest and movement became regular features ever since the country went for the provision."

Awami League presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, advisory council members Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzaque, central committee member Mohammad Nasim, Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, JaSaD president Hasanul Haque Inu and Ziauddin Bablu of Jatiya Party also spoke at the programme.

Sheikh Selim called upon the party activists to stay united as there could be conspiracies being hatched against the party.

Party general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam thanked all the allies who attended the anniversary celebration.

On 23 June 1949, Bengali nationalists from East Bengal broke away from the Muslim League, Pakistan's dominant political party, established the All Pakistan Awami Muslim League at the Rose Garden mansion in the old part of Dhaka.

Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Shamsul Huq were elected the first President and General Secretary of the party respectively, while Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and A K Rafiqul Hussain were elected the party's first joint secretaries.

In 1953, the party's council meeting voted to drop the word 'Muslim' from its name in order to give it a more secular outlook.

The party under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the founding joint secretaries of Awami League, led the struggle for independence, first through massive populist and civil disobedience movements, such as the Six Point Movement and 1971 Non-Cooperation Movement, and then during the Bangladesh's Liberation War.

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