Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina has vowed to bring back convicted BNP leader Tarique back to Bangladesh from London if her party win the people’s mandate.
“The case against Khaleda Zia was started by the people she nominated (military-backed caretaker administration) not Awami League government. The trial continued for 10 years and she has been jailed upon conviction,” she told an election rally in Sylhet on Saturday (Dec 20).
Khaleda’s son Tarique, who has been convicted of money laundering and the 2004 attack on an Awami League rally, is a fugitive in London, Hasina said before adding “Tarique Rahman will be extradited if we return to power.”
Soliciting votes for her party at the rally on the Alia Madrasa grounds in the northeastern city, the prime minister said BNP-Jamaat alliance killed people in arson attacks in 2014 and destabilised the country and that’s why the people shunned them.
“They established a reign of terror and corruption after coming to power in 2001. Bangladesh was known as a corrupt country during that regime,” said the Awami League president.
She also introduced the AL and Grand Alliance candidates in all the constituencies of four districts — Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj and Habiganj — under Sylhet division before the audience.
The Awami League had won 15 seats out of the 19 seats in Sylhet during the 10th parliamentary election, while the Jatiya Party bagged 4 seats.
Referring to opposition alliance Jatiya Oikya Front Habiganj-1 candidate Reza Kibria, Hasina said, “The BNP was behind the bombing that left our former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria killed. And his son is contesting the election with paddy sheaf (BNP’s polls logo).”
The BNP has proved that its ticket for the polls was just a matter of spending enough money, which was clear from its leader Enam Ahmed Chaudhury joining the Awami League, said Hasina.
“The nomination will go to the highest bidder. Convict Tarique Rahman calls the shots for the party from London.”
The Awami League at the helm of the country means that people’s welfare is ensured, said the party chief.
She promised the Sylhet audience that the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway will be turned into a four-lane one her party’s elected once again.
The Awami League created jobs in the northeastern division and is working to build Bangladesh as a developed country, she said.
“Every house of the country will come under the electricity coverage by 2021,” said the prime minister before pledging to introduce 5G mobile network.
Hasina reached Sylhet around 11.00 am aboard a regular Bangladesh Biman flight. Sylhet District Awami League unit President Badruddin Ahmed Kamran and General Secretary Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury along with other leaders and activists received her at the airport.
She visited the shrines of Muslim saint Hazrat Shahjalal, Hazrat Shahparan and Hazrat Gazi Burhan Uddin before addressing the rally.