All-out efforts on to hunt down killers: PM

Pointing the finger at the BNP-Jamaat clique for all the recent planned secret killings in the country, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the intelligence and law enforcement agencies are out there to track down the culprits.

"The government is not sitting idle…our stance about it is very tough ...we’re doing whatever is needed …all from intelligence agencies to law enforcement agencies are very much active," she said.

The prime minister said this while responding to a question at a press conference at her official residence Gono Bahban arranged to inform the media about the outcomes of her recent three visits to Bulgaria, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

She said law enforcement agencies have already arrested the culprits involved in some of the recent secret killings, and the others will surely be caged. "We’re capturing those committing such incidents…we’re taking appropriate measurers. Such incidents will never be tolerated, and there’s no room for committing such crimes in Bangladesh," she said.

The prime minister said the process and style of staging all the recent secret killings are all the same, and it proves that the roots of these incidents are in one place.

Hasina mentioned that the reason behind the secret killings of soft targets are just to create a wave tension at the global stage to depict Bangladesh negatively and a create panic among the mass people.

"Those who tried to destroy the image of Bangladesh and block its march forward are behind this….this is the blueprint of those who never want Bangladesh," she said.

The prime minister asserted that there is no way to spare these militants and the government will put them on trial. "Militants are militants, they won’t get our mercy; I can assure you that."

Hasina said those who kill people in the name of Islam they never believe in the real Islam. "Islam is the religion of peace; Allah is the sole authority for the last judgement…they’re violating the directives of almighty Allah. It’s very regretful the Muslim Ummah is being undermined in the world for a handful of people.”

The prime minister urged all to help the law enforcement agencies capture these culprits and inform them regarding their whereabouts.

Responding to a question regarding involving the BNP-Jamaat in the secret killings is to save the real culprits, the prime minister said her government never talks rubbish. "You need to keep in mind that I’m the head of the government. Surely, I have the information when I talk about. I cannot share all the information for the sake of inquiry."

Replying to another question about increased number of killings in the recently held UP elections, she said there is nothing new in killings during elections in the country.

She mentioned about the elections of 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996 and 2001, and 2003 UP elections. "Were those elections were too much peaceful. Yes, what happened this time is surely not acceptable to us, and this was unexpected…and we’ll take appropriate measurers to avoid such incidents in the future."

In response to another query regarding the recent unwarranted interfere of Pakistan in the internal matter of Bangladesh, the prime minister said, “I never believe in snapping all sorts of relations with another country.”

"Pakistan is telling what they want to say. But with this it becomes clear that these people (Razakars) never want Bangladesh, they are the agents of Pakistan, they were involved in the mass killing of Pakistani occupational forces…the role of Pakistan proves this… it becomes clearer to people," she said adding that the diplomatic relation is there and it will remain.