Bangladesh approaches all countries producing vaccines: PM

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said that the government had approached all countries producing COVID-19 vaccines for procurement and that it had reserved enough funds in this regard.

Hasina, also the leader of the Jatiya Sangsad, made the comments in her concluding speech at the 9th session of the 11th parliament.

Highlighting various initiatives taken by the government to tackle the COVID-19  outbreak in the country, she said that they would try to collect vaccines which came first and from wherever possible to save the country’s people from the epidemic.

‘Different countries across the world are conducting research on vaccines for COVID-19. We have heard from many countries about their vaccine efforts. But, we have approached all the countries and allocated money to this end. We will take the vaccine that comes first and use it to make our people cure from the coronavirus,’ the prime minister said.

Hasina, also president of ruling Awami League, said that her government did not spare anyone involved in crimes in a bid to stop the ‘legacy’ of extrajudicial killings ‘initiated’ by Bangladesh Nationalist Party founder Ziaur Rahman and ‘institutionalised’ by his wife and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

‘You are talking about the extrajudicial killings. But who had initiated it? It started during the tenure of Ziaur Rahman as bodies of many of our leaders and activists were not found at that time. And afterwards, it got institutional shape during the tenure of Khaleda Zia. We tried to stop its continuation,’ she said.

Hasina made the comments when deputy leader of the opposition GM Quader drew her attention to the issue of extrajudicial killings.

She said that her government was not sparing anyone involved in extrajudicial killings.

She called upon all to be realistic and constructive in criticising the law enforcers as they had been working to control drugs, terrorism and militancy by risking their lives, bearing in mind that the law enforcers do not lose their confidence in doing so.

She said that criticism was good but it should be kept in mind that the people who had been ensuring security and to whom people were rushing during any danger did not lose their eagerness to this end.

She also said that the law enforcement agencies were called first when people faced any danger.

‘While doing their job, if accidents happen, those are anomalies. But the government is not sparing anyone if such incidents take place during drives by law enforcement agencies. None will be able to say that we’re sparing anyone involved in crime,’ she said.

About the Narayanganj mosque fire incident, she said that the mosque was built on an unauthorised land.