'Bangladesh will be economically free, prosperous in future'

Staff Correspondent: Urging all to remain alert so that Razakars, Al Badrs, war criminals, killers and manipulators of history can never return to power, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said, "Tomorrow's Bangladesh would be a country of economic emancipation and prosperity."

The Prime Minister said this while addressing a grand rally organised to celebrate the recognition of the historic 7th March speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a world documentary heritage by UNESCO.

The premier said the extempore speech of 7th March, 1971 had a clear directive for the people how to liberate the country and what will be the future course of our nation.

She wondered how those who tried to misinterpret the history by virtually prohibiting the historic speech would now "hide their faces" after its recognition by UNESCO as one of world's memories enlisting the address in the "Memory of the World International Register" on October 30, 2017.

The cabinet division organized the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, the scene of the Bangabandhu's historic speech, as part of the nationwide celebration of the recognition of the speech by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

"It' not merely a speech . . . it's the history of a nation as he (Bangabandhu) depicted 24 years of Pakistani oppression (in the address)," she said.

Cabinet Secretary Md. Shafiul Alam gave the welcome address while Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Kamal abdul Naser Chowdhury also spoke at the function with the national anthem marking its start.

The rally was preceded by a procession from Bangabandhu Memorial Museum to Suhrawardy Udyan which was joined by tens of thousands of people.

"Today we are a free nation, which was known as an extreme poverty stricken nation once. But the country has created its position amid global community as a dignified nation . . . Today, Bangladesh is not dependent on the grace of others as we are economically gained strength and progressing fast," the premier said.

But, she said the country attained its current elevated status as the outcome relentless work stewarded by the ruling Awami League since returned to power 21 years after the assassination of Bangabandhu.

Bangladesh would be a hunger and poverty free nation as dreamt by the Father of the Nation and it would be a middle income country by 2021 and a developed on by 2041, she said.

Sheikh Hasina congratulated every government officials, students of different educational institutions and people of all walks of life who took part in celebration rallies in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

"The day (celebration) is very important for us," she said recalling the memory of March 7, 1971

"I had the opportunity to be present in that historic meeting where surges of people joined here (Suhrawardy Udyan) to hear the directives of Bangabandhu," the premier said.

Sheikh Hasina said the freedom of the nation didn't come in one day as several millions of people had to embrace martyrdom for the independence.

She said Pakistani rulers deprived Bengalis of all economic, social and cultural rights and even they had tried to snatch away the rights of their right to speak in their mother language, which Bangabandhu had protested in 1948 when he was a law student of Dhaka University.

Bangabandhu had to languish in jail for establishing the rights of mother language and declaring six-point demand for political and economic emancipation of the nation, she added.

Sheikh Hasina recalled that the Awami League-led government in 1956 had declared the February 21 as the "Shahid Dibash" or "martyrs day" and framed the constitution giving recognition to Bangla as one of the state languages she said adding Bengalis achieved its all success under the leadership of Bangabandhu.

risingbd/Dhaka/Nov 25, 2017/Nasir/AI