The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said the BNP-Jamaat government had politicised the administration severely while the caretaker government made the administration people panicked through its various aggressive activities.

‘Now the situation is that many government officials feel insecure even to do a good work. But I have told them to work without any fear. The present government wants to free the administration of politicisation and ensure job satisfaction of government employees,’ she said. The prime minister said this at a reception accorded to her by the All European Awami League at the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Geneva Friday evening.

Hasina at the gathering of several hundred Bangladeshi expatriates said the present government had taken charge of such a country which had been ruined by the rulers in seven years. Hasina also recalled her days in special jail during the caretaker regime and how she was forced not to come home when she was in the United States of America at the time.

‘I went abroad to accompany my expecting daughter and ailing daughter-in-law. At this time, I came to know that a murder case has been filed and arrest warrant issued against me in Bangladesh. I have decided to return to Bangladesh without any further delay. But the caretaker rulers threatened to shoot me at the first sight at Dhaka airport,’ she said. ‘They [caretaker government] also threatened me that if I come home, they will take me to such a place from where I would never be able to come back. But, I did not get scared. because I knew that people are with me,’ she said.

Hasina said she was afraid of none but Allah the Almighty as the only aim of her politics was people’s welfare. ‘I do politics for people. If I would know that every person of Bangladesh are literate, they have accommodation, they have health services, there is no scarcity of food, I would have quit from politics,’ she said. Hasina said an adviser to the caretaker government even dared to offer her that she would be the prime minister of Bangladesh, but she had to agree that there would be no election in the country. ‘I told the adviser that only people would decide my fate,’ she said.

The prime minister called on the expatriate Bangladeshis to extend their supports to build a modern digital Bangladesh by 2021. ‘After a long time, people have elected their own government. I am confident that we will be able to change the fate of the country people, because we have honesty and sincerity.’ she said. The prime minister called on the expatriate Bangladeshis to extend support for the government and said, ‘Our government needs your help to implement its roadmap for turning the present Bangladesh into a developed and prosperous one’.

She deplored that BNP-Jamaat government and the immediate-past caretaker government had stopped the pace of development of Bangladesh although the previous Awami League government (1996-2001) had taken the country on the track of development through modern planning and proper implementation by increasing literacy rate, power generation and ensuring food security of the people.

Hasina expressed her gratitude to the Bangladeshi expatriates for their contribution to her release and restoration of democracy to Bangladesh through the 2008 polls. Hasina said her government wanted to build Bangladesh as the most peaceful nation in the South Asian region. She strongly said the land of Bangladesh would not be allowed to be used for any type of terrorism and religious extremism. She also said the present government had taken stern action to stop extortion as it was firm to curb all social menaces.

The prime minister also informed the European Bangladeshi expatriates that the present government has planned to set up an ‘expatriate bank’ to pave the way for investment from Bangladeshi people living abroad. ‘Besides, no one needs to sell property to come abroad for job. The people will be given loan from the bank to go abroad,’ she said. Referring to remittance sent the expatriates to Bangladesh, she said their hard-earned remittances was contributing a lot to the country’s economy. She said the country’s economy was largely dependent on the remittances. Hasina thanked and expressed gratitude’s to the expatriate Awami League leaders and activists for extending their support and cooperation to her especially during the tenure of the immediate-past caretaker government.

Eminent journalist and columnist Abdur Gaffar Chowdhury, president of Switzerland AL Zahir Hossain, chairman of advisory council of the UK Awami League Sharif Sultan also spoke on the occasion with the All European Awami League president, Anil Das Gupta, in the chair. The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, and the state minister for environment and forest, Hasan Mahmud, attended the reception. Awami League leaders and activists from European countries including France, Italy, Germany, UK and Belgium were present.

-New age