US, Canada have violated human rights by sheltering Bangabandhu murderers: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the United States and Canada have violated human rights by providing shelter to killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family in their countries.

"Despite repeated efforts made by the government to bring back those killers, the US and Canada keep safeguarding killers of Bangabandhu and his family," Sheikh Hasina said at a discussion arranged by the Awami League in the city's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, marking the Martyred Intellectuals' Day 2022.

Sheikh Hasina said the United States and Canada gave jobs to the murderers of the father of the nation in the foreign missions.

"Were not human rights violated then? They are only busy with the deaths of militants and drug dealers."

She said her party Awami League safeguards human rights instead of violating in Bangladesh.

"The Awami League doesn't violate human rights here in this country, rather gives protection to it. Awami League ensures the rights of the people," she said.  

Slamming opposition BNP men for talking about the killings and forced disappearance issues, she said it is Ziaur Rahman (founder of BNP) who had started the culture of forced disappearance in the country.

Hasina, also the AL president, said Ziaur Rahman was responsible for killing many officers and soldiers of Bangladesh Army and Air Force. At the same time, he was also behind the killing of many AL leaders and made them disappeared, she added.

She said the families and relatives could never see the bodies of the victims. "How come the BNP talks about forced disappearance and killing?"

Hasina, the eldest daughter of slain Bangladesh leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, said they, who lost their dear ones on 15 August, 1975, had no right to seek justice. She was not allowed to file a case after returning home in 1981. "Where were my human rights? Why couldn't I see the bodies of my parents?" she added.

The PM also blasted BNP for taking no programme to observe the Martyred Intellectuals' Day and not showing respect towards the martyrs. "Today we're observing the Martyred Intellectuals Day. But what is the BNP's programme on this day? Do they have any?"

Pointing at BNP, she said they have intimacy with the killers of the intellectuals and the Father of the Nation, the murders and corrupt persons.

The premier said BNP and Jamaat know how to loot and kill the people, and engage in corruption. So, they don't show any respect toward the intellectuals, she added.

"What respect can they show? We can't expect that they would show respect (to intellectuals)," she said.

The AL president said her party had pledged to hold the trial of the killers of the martyred intellectuals and today her government tried them accordingly.

AL general secretary Obaidul Quader delivered the introduction speech, while AL leaders Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Abdur Rahman, Mahbubul Alam Hanif and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, among others, spoke at the discussion.

At the outset of the event, a minute of silence was observed as a mark of respect to the memories of the martyred intellectuals as well as Bangabandhu, four national leaders and the martyred freedom fighters.

The nation observed the Martyred Intellectuals Day on Wednesday, paying tributes to the intellectuals who had been killed systematically by the Pakistan occupation forces and their local collaborators at the fag-end of the country's Liberation War in 1971.

Sensing an imminent defeat, the Pakistani occupation army and their local collaborators carried out the cold-blooded mass murders under a carefully thought-out plan to intellectually cripple emerging Bangladesh.