Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged expatriate Bangladeshis to strongly counter the propaganda being carried out from abroad against her government and Bangladesh.
“Give an instant befitting reply to the propaganda being carried out against us,” she told a civic reception, accorded to her by the Bangladeshi community in the USA, virtually from her place of residence here in New York.
She asked the expatriates to highlight the country’s unprecedented development that has taken place during the tenures of the Awami League government.
She said Bangladesh has achieved so much that its nationals can move around the world keeping their heads high with dignity.
“Uphold the image wherever you go,” she told the Bangladeshis living abroad.
Hasina pointed out that the relatives of the war criminals and killers of the Father of the Nation alongside the people who fled the country committing various crimes such as money laundering are behind the propaganda.
“The people, who are carrying out the propaganda on the social media, are mostly sacked from jobs for their involvement in misdeeds or fled the country committing crimes,” she said.
The PM called upon all to expose the characters and misdeeds of the people who are now lecturing others with false and fabricated information about the government and Bangladesh using social media.
“Don’t pay heed to their words (propaganda), rather raise our development (successes and activities) before the people,” she added.
Hasina asked them to inform congressmen, senators and elected representatives to their locality about the development of Bangladesh and maintain communication with them.
Coming down heavily on BNP, the PM said today they raise questions about the election and human rights, but the human rights were violated at every step during their regimes.
“They are also the champions of vote rigging. Starting from incorporation 1.23 crore fake voters in the electoral roll, there was no misdeed they did not commit,” she said.
The PM said Awami League always believes in the rights of the people and protect them.
“Awami League ensured the voting rights of the people in this country,” she said, adding that her party restored the people’s right to vote, which once remained confined in the cantonment.
Bangladesh today, she said, has achieved social development thanks to the continuation of the democratic system since 2009, she said.
Hasina, also the president of Awami League, said they (BNP) tried time and again to disrupt the democratic system by unleashing arson attacks and killings and imposing blockade. “I think the blockade BNP once imposed (during the 2014 election) is still there. They didn’t withdraw it,” she added.
Blasting Zia’s family, the PM said Khaleda Zia was convicted in a graft case for misappropriating the money of orphans while his son Tarique Rahman in cases of money laundering and 10-truck arms haul .
She said Bangladesh government had also brought back the money that was illegally siphoned off by Zia’s another son late Arafat Rahman Koko.
She said her government has allowed opening three banks and taken other steps for the welfare of the Bangladeshi expatriates.
Lauding the expatriates the PM said they always stand beside Bangladesh at its critical juncture.
