DHAKA, Jan 9, 2020 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said January 10 is a historic day as the greatest Bangalee of all times, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, returned to independent Bangladesh after being freed from captivity in Pakistan’s prison.
“Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and subsequently sent to solitary confinement in Pakistani jail just after his proclamation of independence of Bangladesh in the first hour of the March 26, 1971,” said the Prime Minister in a message on the occasion of the Homecoming Day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Praying for eternal peace of the departed soul of Bangabandhu on the occasion of his Homecoming Day, the Prime Minister said Bangabandhu was subjected to inhuman torture in the Pakistani jail where he had been counting moments for being executed after his death sentence was pronounced in a farcical trial.
“Even learning that death is imminent, he rejoiced the spirit of the Bangalee nation, He was the spirit of life for the freedom fighters. Under his undisputed leadership, the Bangalee nation achieved the ultimate victory,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the defeated Pakistani rulers were compelled to free Bangabandhu and the Father of the Nation returned to independent Bangladesh on January 10, 1972.
“The Bangalee Nation got back the Father of the Nation. The victory attained fulfillment,” she said.
While speaking before a mammoth public gathering at the then Racecourse Maidan on the same day (January 10, 2071), Bangabandhu narrated the inhuman torture of the Pakistani military junta meted out on him and in that respect, he also appealed to the United Nations to bring the Pakistani army in custody for committing such a crime of genocide during the Liberation War, said the premier.
She said Bangladesh Awami League won by the totality of the electoral support in the 1970 elections under the leadership of the Father of the Nation. He had the trust in his peoples’ mandate to framing the constitution following the six-point and eleven-point demands, she said, adding that but the Pakistani military junta continued to ceasing the power from the elected representative of the people paying no heed to the public mandate and also continued to stage farces.
Aiming at an ultimate target to free the nation, Sheikh Hasina said Bangabandhu in his address in front of millions of audience at the then historic Race Course Maidan on March 7 in 1971 declared, “……turn every house into fortress……The struggle this time is a struggle for emancipation. The struggle this time is a struggle for independence”.
The Pakistani occupation forces launched a brutal killing mission on the innocent Bangalees in the dark on March 25 in 1971, she added.
She said the Father of the Nation, after assuming to the Prime Ministerial responsibility, spared no efforts to rebuild the war-ravaged Bangladesh. On his request, the last member of the Indian Allied Forces left Bangladesh by March 15, 1972. On October 10, 1972, World Peace Council awarded Julio Curie Peace Prize to Bangabandhu, she said, adding that Bangabandhu signed on the first-ever constitution of Bangladesh on December 14, 1972.
Responding to his call, many international organizations, including the United Nations and friendly countries quickly recognized Bangladesh and Bangladesh became a member of the OIC in 1974.
“Within a short period, under the charismatic leadership of Bangabandhu, Bangladesh stood with high head in the world community and only in three and half years turned into a least developed country,” said the premier.
While Bangabandhu had engaged himself in the struggle to build a ‘Golden Bangladesh’ as he dreamed, the anti-liberation forces in collusion with the war criminals assassinated the Father of the Nation along with most of his family members, he said.
Through this most abhorrent murdering of August 15 1975, they initiated the politics of killing, coup, and conspiracy and obstructed the process to try the killers of Bangabandhu through promulgating Indemnity Ordinance, she said, adding that they rewarded those killers through recruiting them in the Embassies of Bangladesh as diplomats.
Those killers ruined the democracy by declaring Martial Law, distorted the glorious history of our independence, defaced the constitution and chocked press freedom and the BNP-Jamaat government kept up on the path of their predecessors, she said.
After a long 21 years of struggle and sacrifice, Awami League assumed the responsibility of running the government in 1996 and again the Awami League that led the War of Liberation formed a grand alliance, which had won a landslide victory in the 2008 election, she said, adding that this government ensured the franchise of the people by bringing the 15th amendment to the constitution which prohibited usurpation of the state power.
Since then, Bangladesh Awami League has been in government for the last three consecutive terms and relentlessly been working for the development of the country and the people, Sheikh Hasina said, adding that the government has accomplished immense developments in all sectors, including macro-economy, agriculture, education, health, transport, ICT, infrastructure, power, rural .economic development, diplomatic successes during the last eleven years.
“The people living in the periphery of the country are the beneficiaries of this development. Now, Bangladesh has become one of the top five countries in the world in economic growth, a ‘Role Model’ for development,” she said.
Presently, GDP growth is 8.15 percent, which is the highest in history and the poverty rate has now declined to 20.5 percent, per capita income has risen to US$ 1, 909, literacy rate to 73.9 percent and the country’s 95 percent of people are under electricity coverage.
The average life expectancy of the people has jumped to 72 years and 8 months.
“We are implementing several mega infrastructures development projects such as Padma Bridge, metro-rail, elevated expressways, rail, and waterways across the country. We are the first in the world to start implementing ‘Delta Plan-2100’,” said the Prime Minister.
Present government is working with adherence to the ‘zero-tolerance policy’ against militancy, terrorism and drug menace, he said, adding, “We have established the rule of law in the country and executed the verdict of the trial of the killers of the Father of the Nation and the trial of the war criminals”.
“We have peacefully resolved the land boundary issue with India. Disputes with India and Myanmar on maritime boundaries have also been resolved,” she said, adding that Bangladesh has also joined the elite club of the satellite technology as the 57th nation of the world through launching Bangabandhu Satellite-.
“All these have happened due to the visionary development thought of the Awami League government and its proper execution,” she added.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh and UNESCO will jointly celebrate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu, she said, adding that the government has been tirelessly working to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021, and a developed-prosperous one by 2041.
“On the eve of the golden jubilee of our independence, I would like to call upon all to perform their due responsibility from their respective positions to accelerate the development, uphold democracy and establish good governance frustrating all sorts of conspiracy against democracy and the government being imbued with the spirit of the liberation war,” said the premier.