The New Nation - Internet Edition

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina addressing a
discussion meeting organised by Bangabandhu Foundation on
the occasion of National Mourning Day, the 33rd death
anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at a hotel
in Washington on Saturday. Bang

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, now in Washington, demanded that the caretaker regime lift the state of emergency and hold parliamentary elections first to transfer power to people's representatives.

"Without people's representatives, people's problems cannot be resolved," said the former PM while addressing a discussion marking the 33rd anniversary of assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Washington Saturday.

Hasina rejected any other elections before the general election, and asserted that the elections must be free, fair, transparent and acceptable to all, according to a report from the US capital.

On the anti-corruption campaign, she said many suspected corrupt big fishes having thousands of crores of Taka went scot-free while some small fry were arrested. "It seems to the people that the anti-graft drive is being conducted not against the real corrupt but against politicians."

The discussion meeting was also addressed by Hasina's son, Sajiv Wajed Joy, former MP Sohel Taj, US Awami League president Khaled Hassan.

On the August 15th tragedy, Hasina said defeated forces of 1971 took revenge by slaying Bangabandhu in 1975. Had there not been the black night of August 15, Bangladesh would have attained economic self-sufficiency much earlier, she observed.

The Awami League chief further said were Bangabandhu alive, Bangladesh would have created a new example of how to attain a poverty-free and economically self-reliant nation.