<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that the BNP doesn’t want election, rather the opposition party seeks to create an abnormal situation in the country.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The election will definitely be held as per the constitution. BNP knows that the people will not vote for them. Why would the people go to vote for those who were driven out due to vote-rigging? They want to destabilize the country,” she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The premier said this on Tuesday (July 25, 2023) while addressing a community event held at her place of residence here in Rome, the capital of Italy. She was in Rome to attend the UN food summit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She questioned how the BNP can seek votes after killing people through arson violence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“They don’t want election. They lick the legs of some of their foreign lords and they want to make the people of the country suffer by them (the foreign lords). They want to hamper the ongoing development trend of the country and its people,” she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hasina said the BNP never wants the welfare of the people of this country. All will have to keep it in mind.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Their purpose is to catch fish in troubled water. So, their aim is to hamper this progress of Bangladesh,” she told the gathering.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The PM asked all to stay united and protect Bangladesh from this evil force (BNP). “They want to push Bangladesh into an unstable situation again. So, all will have to remain alert in this regard,” she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stressing that Bangladesh Awami League (AL) will have to come to power to build the country as Smart Bangladesh, the AL president sought votes for her party electoral symbol ‘boat’ again in the next general election.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Referring to imposition of sanction on Rab officials and visa sanction by the USA, the Prime Minister said, “By whom we've curbed terrorism and militancy, sanction is imposed on them. We can’t understand its mystery.”</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">“Those who had not supported our liberation war want to play games with our country in various ways now. The players can’t be allowed to play. The people of the country will have to remain united,” she went on.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The premier asked expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittance through legal channels, search foreign partners to make investment in Bangladesh particularly in ICT, food processing and small industries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She also urged the expatriates to abide by the laws of their host countries and discouraged the overseas jobseekers to migrate to the foreign countries through illegal channels.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hasina asked the expatriates to inspire their families and relatives in Bangladesh not to leave an inch of land uncultivated in order to boost food production amid the current global situation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said her government has taken steps to improve the food storage system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The PM focused on her government's successes in different sectors and the progress the country has attained since 2009. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>