BNP is upset with not only President, but also state: Hasan

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said BNP's disappointment over the new President is not unusual as the party is frustrated with the very statehood of the country.

The minister said this replying to a question of a journalist at a function on unwrapping a book titled 'Purbo Pakistaner Sangkat Somporke Shewatopatra' (White Paper Regarding the Crisis of East Pakistan in 1971) at the ministry's conference room here.

"Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is frustrated with the statehood of the country and according to him Pakistan regime was better which actually reflects his disappointment over the state," he said.

"It is normal that those who are frustrated over the state would certainly be disappointed over the country's President," said Hasan, also Awami League Joint General Secretary.

Department of Films and Publications (DFP) reprinted the book which is the publication of Shwetopatra 1971 based on the mass movements in 1971.

The minister said the outgoing President was a good human being and the new President is also a person with a good soul as well. "I firmly believe the newly elected President is a wise and prudent man. He performed a pivotal role in crisis period and he will discharge his responsibility smoothly like in past as the president of the state and a guardian," he added.

The minister said a new feather was added to the history of practicing democracy in Bangladesh yesterday. This is the first time in the country's history that a president left his office after 10 years of successful completion of his presidency while newly elected President took office, he added.

Replying to another query over adoption of a resolution by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IASG) recognizing the genocide committed by the Pakistani military during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Hasan said it is an important step towards international recognition of the genocide that took place in the country's Liberation War.

He said 30 lakh people were martyred during the great Liberation War in the country. So many people were not killed in other genocides, including in Rwandan, but those have received international recognition, he added.

He said the government is working on this issue and the declaration would help to this end.

Over the publication, Hasan said this publication is very important and it will help know the history of the struggle of independence.

He said it has been reflected in the publication that the freedom struggle was being conducted in the East Bengal under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

DFP director general SM Golam Kibria and director Mohammad Ali Sarker, among others, were present in the function.

Later the minister paid tribute to Pankaj Bhattacharya, president of Oikya NAP and one of the organisers of the country's Liberation War, at the Central Shaheed Minar here.

After paying tribute, Hasan said Pankaj Bhattacharya, who was a lifelong politician and rising above greed, he took politics as a mission.

He said Pankaj Bhattacharya actively took part at all democratic movements, language movements and the Liberation War.

The minister prayed for salvation of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.