Obaidul Quader
Govt will deal with country’s internal issues, not foreign diplomats: Quader
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today (December 26, 2022) said the government will resolve internal issues of the country and foreign diplomats have to abide by the rules.
The minister said this while talking to reporters at his ministry’s conference room at the Secretariat.
Read: Get ready to face defeat: Obaidul to BNP
“Foreign diplomats will not put anyone in office, the country’s people will. Foreign diplomats have to follow the (Convention) when they talk about internal affairs of our country. It’s the government who will solve the country’s problems, not them,” Quader said.
Quader, also general secretary of ruling Awami League, added that the government does not tolerate “terrorist activities like torching vehicles and shops.”
Read: Defeated forces resurrected to avenge: Obaidul Quader
“We are always alert to prevent any kind of terrorism. We will take necessary steps if anyone creates chaos and causes public suffering. Law enforcement agencies are always active to tackle violence,” Quader added.
Awami League united under Sheikh Hasina's leadership: Quader
Minister for Road, Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader said on Sunday that Awami League is united under the leadership of party President Sheikh Hasina.
He said this while talking to journalists after paying tribute at the portrait of the Father of the Nation in front of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi-32 in the capital.
Earlier, the newly-elected Awami League Central Working Committee and Advisory Council led by Premier Sheikh Hasina paid tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman this morning.
“We elected the leadership in a democratic way at the conference; most of the senior leaders were reelected,” he said, adding that PM Sheikh Hasina understands the minds of party activists and leaders.
Read more: Sheikh Hasina, Obaidul Quader reelected AL President, Gen Secretary
He observed that there are manifold challenges before the party centering the next national election, crisis being faced by the country due to global circumstances, militancy, and anti-government movement by the BNP.
The party president decided to keep the experienced leadership to face the upcoming challenges.
Quader said that he became general secretary of the party three times and his duties have increased.
“It is my fortune that I obtained responsibility of Awami League and it is the decision of the Premier Sheikh Hasina,” he added.
Read more: AL will always stand by the nation no matter what: Quader
Sheikh Hasina, Obaidul Quader reelected AL President, Gen Secretary
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader have been elected president and general secretary of Bangladesh Awami League once again.
The election commission of the party announced their names in the second session of the 22nd National Council at Engineers Institution in the capital today (December 24).
With this, Sheikh Hasina has been elected in the post for the 10th time and Obaidul Quader for the third consecutive term.
Read: AL’s struggles will end when it can ensure smiles on the faces of people: PM Hasina
Around 7000 councillors and delegates of the party reelected the president and general secretary of the party. The two leaders will form a full central committee.
The first session kicked off in Suhrawardy Udyan in the morning. In the second session, the names of the president and general secretary were proposed through the election commission formed to conduct the council.
AL advisory committee’s member Yousuf Hossain Humayun is leading a three-member election commission formed to oversee this year’s council election. Other members of the EC are prime minister’s adviser Moshiur Rahman and advisory committee member Sahabuddin Chuppu.
Awami League Advisory Council Member Amir Hossain Amu proposed Sheikh Hasina's name as the president in the council session. Dinajpur District Awami League President Mostafizur Rahman supported the proposal and it was accepted by the council.
Later, Obaidul Quader's name was proposed as the general secretary by the Naogaon district Awami League general secretary and it was also accepted by the council.
Read: AL will always stand by the nation no matter what: Quader
Earlier in the day, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the council by hoisting the national flag at 10.30am at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader MP placed the report of the general secretary while Awami League Presidium Member and reception committee convener Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim MP delivered the address of welcome.
AL will always stand by the nation no matter what: Quader
General Secretary of Awami League and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said that the party will always stand by the people of Bangladesh no matter what.
He was speaking at his party’s 22nd National Council at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday.
“Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders know that they won’t be able to unseat Sheikh Hasina’s government if they participate in the elections. That’s why they tried to kill Sheikh Hasina 20 times. BNP leaders think that the only way to hold onto power forever is by removing Awami League from there, which is impossible. BNP couldn’t do it on December 10, they won’t be able to do it ever,” Quader said.
Read: AL leaders, activists must remain united to resist conspiracies: PM at party’s nat’l council
Quader added that his party will face BNP’s “terrorism, vote rigging, corruption and plundering” with an iron hand through election and movement.
“For the last 47 years, Sheikh Hasina has been the most popular leader of the country. She has to remain in power if development and achievements have to continue,” Quader added.
BNP’s reform proposal is ridiculous: Quader
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday criticized the BNP's 27-point plan for ‘Structural Reform of the State,’ terming it as ‘ridiculous’.
He made the remarks at the food sub-committee meeting marking the 22nd National Council of Bangladesh Awami League at party president’s Dhanmondi political office.
If they (BNP) come to power the reform proposal will not be implemented, it will be destroyed, said Quader, also the AL general secretary.
"BNP took the country on the brink of destruction. Bangladesh is prosperous today because of Sheikh Hasina's determination. BNP destroyed democracy and the spirit of the Liberation War," he said.
Read more: Anti-liberation forces are still active: Quader
“How those will reform who had destroyed the country? This is a kind of stunt which is ridiculous. BNP is the maestro of falsehood. Nobody believes them,” Quader added.
He also said that people still believe that Bangladesh will move forward under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. “It has been proved that BNP is sponsor of terrorism and militancy.”
BNP on Monday announced a 27-point outline of ‘Structural Reform of the State’ — proposing radical changes to the state system including balancing the executive powers of the president, prime minister and the Cabinet, and introduction of the upper house of legislature.
Read more: US ambassador didn’t go to the memorial on Martyred Intellectuals’ Day, he went somewhere else: Quader
The outline of the ‘Structural Reform of the State’ has been prepared in line with the late president and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's 19 points and BNP's 'Vision-2030' declared by its chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Get ready to face defeat: Obaidul to BNP
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Saturday asked the BNP to get ready to face defeat in the race of movement and election.
He came up with the remark while addressing a rally before bringing out a procession over the Victory Day organised by north and south units of the ruling party on Engineers’ Institution premises near the Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital as chief guest.
Accusing the BNP of instigating the US on the security issue, he said, “We are assuring the US envoy that there is no security threat in Bangladesh, and all are secured in the country”.
Read more: Vested quarters out to destroy democracy: PM
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Hasan Mahmud said those who are working for Pakistan as collaborators will be buried and any anti-state attempts will not be allowed to succeed.
The party’s Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said the anti-liberation forces BNP-Jamaat will be removed from politics to keep development and advancement of the country on track.
He said there will be no rights to do politics by the anti-liberation forces--BNP-Jamaat--in the country.
AL Presidium Members Dr Abdur Razzak, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhry Maya, Advocate Kamrul Islam, Joint General Secretaries Dr Dipu Moni, AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Organising Secretary BM Mozammel Hoque, among others, were present at the rally.
Read more: AL's V-Day vow: To build fully-developed, Smart Bangladesh by 2041
Earlier, leaders and activists with banners, festoons, and party flags from several parts of the capital started gathering at the programme venue at 1pm.
Starting the rally from the Engineers’ Institution ended at Bangabandhu Bhaban in Dhandmondi after parading several roads of the city.
Anti-liberation forces are still active: Quader
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Friday said the anti-liberation forces are still plotting to destablise the country even after 51 years of victory.
“Communal forces, militants are conspiring to thwart the joy of victory,” he told reporters after paying tributes to the martyrs of the Liberation War at the National Memorial in Savar.
Read more: Don’t allow arsonists, anti-liberation forces to assume power: PM
Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, also urged the pro-liberation forces to come forward to resist them.
AL presidium member Abdur Rahman, publicity secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap were also present.
Earlier, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also paid tributes to the heroes of 1971 at the National Memorial.
Read more: Anti-liberation forces want to see ‘famine’ in Bangladesh: Minister
PM to open 1st phase of metro rail on December 28: Quader
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the first phase of metro rail – spanning from Uttara to Agargaon – on December 28.
The minister said this at a preparatory meeting of a sub-committee, formed on the occasion of the 22nd national council of Awami League (AL), in the capital's Dhanmondi Thursday.
"The first phase of metro rail from Diabari to Agargaon will be opened to the public on December 28," Quader, also the general secretary of AL, said.
"Let them (BNP) criticise us. We will respond to their criticisms with our work," he added.
Read: Dhaka Metro Rail fare set at Tk 5/km
US ambassador didn’t go to the memorial on Martyred Intellectuals’ Day, he went somewhere else: Quader
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said that Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s “plan to persuade the United States and the United Kingdom governments” to put sanctions on the Bangladesh government and its institutions has failed.
Quader said this while addressing a discussion arranged by Bangladesh Awami League at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), marking Martyred Intellectuals Day today.
Read more: Defeated forces resurrected to avenge: Obaidul Quader
“The Washington mission of BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has failed. After trying their best, no one from Bangladesh was on the list of individuals and entities sanctioned by the US. Still, BNP appointed lobbyists thinking that we don’t know where the money comes from. Sacks full of money coming from Dubai…we know the story,” Quader said.
Quader, also General Secretary of the ruling Awami League, came down heavily on Toby Cadman, a British lawyer who was appointed by Jamaat as a legal adviser.
“Toby Cadman told Al Jazeera that he was part of the team that asked the US and UK governments for sanctions against Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (Rab). The US sanction on Rab was a result of this lobbying,” Quader said.
Speaking on enforced disappearances, Quader referred to US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas, asking him about the human rights situation in his own country.
Read more: Quader urges BNP not to create chaos on December 24
“Instead of going to the Martyred Intellectuals’ Memorial, Haas went to meet Mayer Daak founders on Martyred Intellectuals Day. I want to ask him — how many people disappear in your country every month? Don’t bother, we already have the stats from CNN,” said Quader.
Quader further said that before commenting on the human rights situation in Bangladesh, Peter Haas must know the actual history of disappearances and killings.
“In the past, BNP leaders had said that intellectual Farhad Mazhar had disappeared. Later we found him on a Khulna-bound bus. I also want to mention Salahuddin. At first, everyone was saying that he had disappeared. But later we learned that he went to India willingly to evade the cases pending against him. Peter Haas must know of these instances, along with the killings and enforced disappearances that happened during the regime of Ziaur Rahman,” said Quader.
Defeated forces resurrected to avenge: Obaidul Quader
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said the defeated forces of 1971 are now active again to retaliate.
“The defeated forces of 1971 now want to take revenge and that’s why they have become active now,” he said while talking to reporters after paying tributes to the martyred intellectuals on the occasion of the Martyred Intellectuals Day.
Quader, General Secretary of the ruling Awami League, also urged the pro-liberation forces to resist all conspiracies by getting united.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tributes to the martyred intellectuals.
Flanked by the party's central leaders, Hasina, also the President of Bangladesh Awami League, laid another wreath at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial as the party chief.
Also read: Martyred Intellectuals Day: President, PM pay tribute to 1971 heroes
Awami League presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Abdur Razzaque, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman, Shahjahan Khan, joint secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif MP, AFM Bahauddin Nasim and organising secretary Ahmed Hossain, among others, were present there. On the night of December 14, 1971, over 200 intellectuals including educationists, journalists, litterateurs, writers, physicians, scientists, lawyers, artists, philosophers and political thinkers had been picked up in Dhaka by the Pakistani occupation forces, aided by their local collaborators.
The intellectuals were taken blindfold to torture cells in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different parts of the city and later executed en masse at different killing grounds, most notably Rayerbazar and Mirpur.
Since then, the day has been observed as the Martyred Intellectuals Day.