Staff Reporter:
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat has said Sheikh Hasina will be arrested upon her return to Bangladesh to face trial over crimes against humanity.
“Sometimes we hear that Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh by 31 December. We say, why 31 December? Whenever she returns, we will receive her in handcuffs through legal procedures,” he said.
The minister made the remarks on Friday afternoon at a programme in Ratanpur village of Nabinagar upazila in Brahmanbaria, where he handed over the keys to a newly built house for an elderly woman, Golapi Begum.
Millat said Sheikh Hasina and her associates would face trial in Bangladesh over allegations of crimes against humanity. “We have requested the neighbouring country to return these associates to us,” he said.
He alleged that the previous government had looted the country’s resources and siphoned off large amounts of money abroad, leaving the economy in a fragile state.
“We inherited a fragile economy and severe gas and power shortages in every sector,” he said, adding that neither the previous government nor the interim government had taken adequate steps to develop the energy sector.
He alleged that various power plants had been set up primarily to facilitate corruption and that payments were made to plants regardless of whether they operated.
The minister said the government needed some time to overcome the economic crisis.
He also alleged that citizens’ rights had been undermined under the previous government and said the current government was working to ensure justice and legal remedies over the embezzlement of public funds.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Commerce and Brahmanbaria-3 MP Khaled Hossain Mahbub, Brahmanbaria-4 MP Md Abdul Mannan, Zila Parishad Administrator and BNP district general secretary Sirajul Islam, and leaders of Amra BNP Poribar, were present, among others.
