Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday reiterated her firm determination to take Bangladesh forward further by overcoming all impediments and said her government wants peace, progress and creation, not conflict, regression and destruction to achieve this goal.
“I would like to tell everybody that we want peace, not conflict…we want progress not regression and we want creation not destruction. Whatever obstructions come, we would take Bangladesh forward by overcoming all hurdles,” she said.
The prime minister said this while addressing the inaugural function of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day and completion of 150 years of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka Monday afternoon.
The Post and Telecommunication Division and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) jointly arranged the function.
State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post and Telecommunication and ICT Ministry Imran Ahmed spoke at the function as the special guests.
Secretary of Post and Telecommunication Division Md Faizur Rahman Chowdhury presided over the function, while a video message of ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao was broadcast.
BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose delivered the welcome address and presented the keynote on the theme of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day — “The Telecommunications and ICTs: Drivers of Innovation”.
Earlier, the PM handed over awards among the winners of the online essay competition, which was arranged on the occasion of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day and completion of 150 years of the ITU.
Sheikh Hasina also released a commemorative postage stamp on the occasion.
Coming down heavily on the BNP-Jamaat nexus for unleashing destructive acts for over three months since January 5 this year, the Prime Minister said her government does not want to see repetition of such heinous and brutal acts for the sake of the country and its people.
“We sometimes have to face manmade disasters like natural calamities,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said without any reason, the BNP-Jamaat evil force all of a sudden started its so-called hartals and blockades since January 5.
“They destroyed the national property and burnt the common people to death alive who moved through buses, trains and launches. They also killed bus, truck and CNG drivers by burning and cut trees and roads in the name of movement,” she said.
In this connection, the Prime Minister noted that such heinous crimes never happened in the country in the past. “We never witnessed such a type of movement in the past and we don’t want its recurrence,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said: “We want development and peace of the country and people. We also want that the people lead a beautiful life.”
The Prime Minister said her government distributed textbooks among the students on the very first day of the year. But the BNP-Jamaat did not allow them to go to schools as they enforced hartals and blockades from January 5, she added.
“Even the BNP-Jamaat called hartals and blockades during SSC, O and A level exams,” she said, adding through such destructive programs they wanted to destroy the academic life of the students.
Urging all to remain alert against the destructive acts of the BNP-Jamaat, Sheikh Hasina said her government wants Bangladesh to be developed economically. “We also want to ensure a beautiful, developed and secure life for the next generation and we are working relentlessly to achieve this goal,” she said.
The PM called upon all to work together to advance Bangladesh further. “Let’s come to build Bangladesh as a dignified nation on the world stage,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina also urged all to further speed up the pace of development that is continuing for over the last six and a half years in the country to materialize “Vision 2021 and 2041″.
“Let’s come to further accelerate the trend of uplift that started over the last six and a half years in the country to materialize the Vision 2021 and 2041 of the government by using all facilities in the telecommunication and information technology sectors,” she said.
Meritorious IT related students of engineering also attended the function and they were very much inspired by the time-befitting speech of the PM containing modern approach. –Our Monitor (Photo: PID)