Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recollects sweet memories of Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib before an audience on her mother’s 84th birthday at a programme organised at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Friday. bss Photo Strongly condemning the killings in Gaza by Israelis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday came down heavily again on the developed nations and the human rights organisations at home and abroad for their silence over the offensive. “I’ve got stunned seeing the world conscience to remain silent. When one incident of death occurs here (Bangladesh) we receive letters from so many congressmen with protest and criticisms. Today, hundreds of children and women, including expecting mothers, are being killed with bullets… why’re conscience is silent,” she questioned. The Prime Minister was speaking at a function organised by Women and Child Affairs Ministry at Osmani Memorial Auditorium marking the 84th birth anniversary of Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, the wife of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed along with most of her family members, including Bangabandhu, on the fateful night of August 15, 1975. Chaired by State Minister for Women and Child Affairs Minister Meher Afroz Chumki, the function was addressed, among others, by Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, Chairman of Jatiya Mahila Sangstha Prof Momtaj Begum and Bangladesh Shishu Academy Chairperson Selina Hossain. Deeply condemning the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israelis, the Prime Minister said took a further dig at the ‘civilized world’ saying, “Why the people who are claiming themselves as civilized ones are silent now.” Pointing finger at the country’s human rights organizations, Hasina said these organizations often run to the hill tracts, islands and here and there in case of any trivial incident. “Where are they now, why are their voices are missing?” she asked. She requested the Mahila Awami League and other women organisations of the country to strongly raise their voice against this kind of people, where women and children are being killed. “When there is any such incident anywhere in the world, I’ll request you to raise your voice …though these incidents are not taking here in Bangladesh there shouldn’t be any complacence that we are safe,” she said. In this connection, the Prime Minister mentioned the killings of 1971, 1975 and after 2001 when BNP-Jamaat was in power. Hasina said when she sees the killings in Palestine her memory of 1975 revisits. “When I see the faces of women and children my memory recalls the pictures of 1971 and 1975.” She mentioned that in 1971 women and children of the country were also killed like this way. She said that the assailants in 1975 killed women, children and other people of Dhanmondi 32, houses of Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni and Serniabat. “The killers mercilessly killed children and women of these houses,” she said. In this connection, Hasina mentioned that the killers did not spare the newly wed wives of Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Jamal. “We don’t want to see such killings in the country again.” Briefly describing the role of Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib behind the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and also Awami League, the Prime Minister said the killers of August 15, 1975 knew her courage and organisational capacity. “That’s why they didn’t spare my mother,” she said. Earlier, a documentary on Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib was also shown in the programme sketching the life of the wife of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. —UNB
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