Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina said that after the tragic assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, she herself and hundreds of thousands of her party leaders and workers were subject to custodial torture.
After decades of struggle Bangladesh Awami League under her leadership fought the military-favoured and military-backed governments and finally we are victorious and we have established democracy, human rights and rule of law in the country.
While talking to BBC, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said her government was never led by any intention to torture people in custody.
The premier’s comments on this issue came as BBC journalist Manoshi asked what steps the present government took to stop such tortures, which the journalist described as a legacy of previous governments.
Sheikh Hasina said there are some international rules to interrogate suspected criminals which we follow during dealing with terrorists. Moreover, our government has taken a number of programmes to impart training to the members of our law enforcement agencies from United States and the UK.
“Information is gathered from the criminals using the methods other countries practice and nothing is done beyond it,” she said.
However, she reminded the BBC journalist that the past regimes virtually developed a culture of impunity and she herself was a victim of that situation after losing her parents, brothers and other near and dear ones in 1975. There is no such incident of custodial death in Bangladesh in the recent past.
“The killers were provided indemnity instead of exposing them to trial that meant you (actually) entertained the culprits,” the premier reminded.
Sheikh Hasina said she had to wait for 35 years to get justice.
Again asked what initiative her government took to stop such culture, Sheikh Hasina said all “appropriate measures in this regard”.
Sheikh Hasina said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated within three and a half years of independence and this culture continued for many years when military dictators ruled the country directly and often in the guise of politicians.
“This culture continued for years after years and it was a difficult task to bring back the country to a healthy trend, we performed that difficult task,” she said.
The premier said she knew that the question was raised in Geneva where Bangladesh law minister and other representatives were present. “The law minister and others gave reply properly in this regard,” she said.
On a question whether the people are getting the benefits of economic growth, Sheikh Hasina said the people are certainly getting the benefits.
“The country’s poverty rate was over 41 percent in 2005-2006 and now it has come down to 21.04 percent. We could attain this success within 10 years,” she said.
The prime minister said per capita income surged to about 2000 US dollars from 400/500 dollars and the country achieved 8.1 percent GDP in the last fiscal year.
“When higher growth is achieved, the inflation increases naturally. But we kept inflation at 5.5 or 6 percent,” she said, adding its fruits are reaching to common people very naturally.
About migration of the people, Sheikh Hasina said there is a tendency to make their fortune by migrating to affluent nations.
She said that her government is providing loan without security to encourage youths to work abroad.
Replying to a question on the culture of creating bad loans, she said this was initiated by the military dictators in the past. “Whenever we came to power, we tried to realise the loans,” she said.
She said the country would not have witnessed such socioeconomic progress and economy would not have been so strong, if the problems were not addressed by her government.
About freedom of work of mass media, Sheikh Hasina said there was only one television channel (Bangladesh Television), one radio and a few newspapers in the country till 1996.
But after coming to power in 1996, she said, the Awami League government created opportunity with appropriate laws for the private sector to launch television and radio channels. “There are 44 television channels in the country now,” she said, adding that her intention was to help private sector to flourish and ensure free flow of information.
She said there is full freedom of work of mass media. “If it didn’t exist how anti-government propaganda is being carried out by media houses?,” she questioned.
Did anybody enjoy such freedom during the rules of military dictators? Hasina questioned adding, “Even it was absent during the regime of Khaleda Zia,” she said.
The prime minister said her government is working to create congenial environment and maintain a peaceful atmosphere in the country.
