Sheikh Hasina appeals to parents, teachers: Keep close watch on children

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said her government does not want any recurrence of the recent terror attacks and urged all to remain vigilant about the movement of their children to prevent them from getting derailed. “The people of the country are pious, but not bigots. I simply cannot understand why the children of these pious people who are receiving education from reputed institutions, good schools and colleges, and English medium ones are turning bigots," she said, in an appeal to parents, teachers and government officials. [caption id=“attachment_2890070” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a file photo. Reuters[/caption] The prime minister delivered her speech during a video conferencing with a cross-section of people of 16 districts of Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions from her official residence Ganobhaban, The Daily Star reported. Hasina said it needs to be dug out how the culprits are misguiding meritorious students. “We don’t want these students to lay down their valuable lives indiscriminately getting derailed from the right path,” she said. Her statement comes in the wake of two terror attacks, including the 1 July horrific terror siege at an upscale cafe in Gulshan area in which 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, were killed by Islamist gunmen, many of who were from affluent families. The prime minister also asked the public servants to find out the culprits who are trying to derail the youths. “We must get rid of this situation, we’ll have to take our country to the path of development, we must accelerate our socio-economic development, and I believe we can get rid of this situation,” Hasina said. Reiterating her resolve not to allow the emergence of militancy in the country, the prime minister said the government does not want any recurrence of the terror attacks happened recently. “We won’t allow any sort of emergence of militancy in the country, we don’t want Bangladesh to be the land of militancy…we’ll have to take some measures keeping this view in mid,” she asserted. Hasina said some unwarranted incidents have been taken place in Bangladesh and it has to be dealt with strongly. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan were among others present at the programme.