Don't let Bangladesh slip into dark era of post-1975: Hasina

Dhaka [Bangladesh]: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged the people to prevent the nation from falling back into a period of dark era which was witnessed in the country post 1975.

Addressing at the Krishibid Institution auditorium in Dhaka, Hasina said, "We must not plunge into danger. We all must remain alert so that we don't step into a dark-era like the one post-1975."

The ruling Bangladesh Awami League organised the event to mark the International Mother Language Day, celebrated on February 21 every year, The Dhaka Tribune reported.

Hasina added that there was still a section of people in Bangladesh who had "inherited Pakistani souls."

"We have to save the people of Bangladesh from such elements. This is my call to the people," Hasina warned.

Referring to the opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Bangladesh Prime Minister stated that it was regrettable that a political party had chosen Liberation War criminals as ministers.

"The nation will never forgive those culprits. People of the country have to remain careful about those backing the culprits who sexually assaulted our mothers and sisters, and carried out genocide, arson attacks and looting," Hasina added.

Awami League presidium members Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Dr. Abdur Razzaque, Abdul Matin Khasru, Professor Emeritus Rafiqul Islam and former Bangla Academy director general Professor Dr. Syed Anwar Hossain were present in the event, that was conducted by the party's Publicity and Publication Affairs Secretary, Dr. Hasan Mahmud.

Earlier, the participants stood in silence for a minute in honour of the people who died in the 1952 Language Movement.

The Language Movement was a student political movement in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan, in government, education, media and others.