Coming down hard on those who always say military dictator Ziaur Rahman introduced the multiparty democracy in the country, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the BNP founder made a mockery of democracy.

 ‘He [Zia] had tried to confuse the nation. Accepting that, some people appreciated him, but they never think anything deeply for a moment,’ she said, reports the UNB.

The Prime Minister was addressing a discussion programme organised by Bangladesh Awami League at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) marking Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day.

 Hasina, also the chief of Awami League, said Zia, in the name of multiparty democracy, had rehabilitated war criminals, given the anti-independence force the chance to do politics and returned the voting rights to war criminals. ‘This is not the democracy of people…this was the renaming of rehabilitating war criminals. 

That’s why Bangladesh couldn’t move forward after the assassination of the Father of the Nation.’

The Prime Minister called upon all to remain united to expedite the development of the country to materialise the dreams of the Father of the Nation.

‘InshAllah, we’ll build this country as hunger- and poverty-free Bangladesh as dreamt by the Father of the Nation…this is our vow today. We’ll build the country… I urge the people of Bangladesh to stay united to expedite the development activities of the country,’ she said.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to independent Bangladesh on January 10, 1971 following his release from Pakistani jail.

Sheikh Hasina said it is the prime task of her government to improve the lifestyle of the people of this country.

‘The Father of the Nation is no more with us, but his ideals are with us. We’re are trying to materialise and fulfil the vision that he had spelt out in his speech in January 10, 1972 after returning home and the plans he laid out to run the country,’ she said.

Describing the significance of the day in the nation’s history, Hasina said the people of Bangladesh on this got back their leader who inspired them for liberation. ‘Yahiya Khan hatched all the conspiracies to hang him but was forced to set him free.’

On his return home, Hasina said, Bangabandhu revealed his vision to build Bangladesh as per his dream and devoted himself to rebuilding war-ravaged Bangladesh.

Under Bangabandhu’s leadership, she said, Bangladesh for the first time achieved a 7.5 percent growth rate and the people of the country started dreaming of a bright future. ‘But, the anti-liberation forces did not allow this to happen.’

Hasina said the anti-liberation forces grabbed state power after killing Bangabandhu who had initiated the trial of many war criminals. But, Ziaur Rahman freed them after taking over power, she said.

Sharply criticising the destructive politics of the BNP-Jamaat clique, the Prime Minister said the killing of people through hurling bombs and grenades were very usual for them during their tenure.

They had also unleashed violence, destructive activities from 2013 to 2015 in the name of foiling the last general election and then overthrowing the government, she said.

Hasina said the BNP-Jamaat nexus burned people to death, killed innocent citizens, carried out attacks on the houses of minority people and damaged their property the way Pakistani occupation forces committed genocide, raped women and set fire to villages during the Liberation War.

The Prime Minister said military dictators, BNP-Jamaat and their collaborators failed to eliminate poverty and brighten the country’s image during their 28 years of rule as they had no belief in the country’s independence.

AL advisory council members Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed, presidium members Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and Eng Mosharraf Hossain, general secretary Obaidul Quader, eminent historian Prof Muntasir Mamun, AL central working committee members Marufa Akhtar Poppy and Remon Areng, MP and general secretary of AL Dhaka North Sadek Hossain, among others, spoke at the programme, conducted by party publicity secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud.