The TBH Desk
“Bangladesh has become a nation of opportunities under the leadership of the able daughter of its founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” he said on Sunday (Dec 18) in Dhaka.
“She should be celebrated and honoured as the liberator and as the leader of [Bangladesh’s] second Liberation War,” he said at the Foreign Service Academy.
Akbar appeared in front of the media along with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen after presenting a keynote speech at a discussion titled “Bangladesh’s achievements in 52 years and its place in the region and beyond in the coming decades”.
When asked about the threat of US sanctions against Bangladesh and geopolitical attention, Akbar said: “Those who are trying to frighten Bangladesh are forgetting that Bangladesh is no longer a timid country.”
He said he believes that Bangladesh has the firm ability to face its own problems and challenges on its own.
In his keynote speech, Akbar highlighted Prime Minister Haisna’s development efforts towards ensuring inclusive growth and termed Bangladesh the ’emerging power of Asia’.
No country can be modern without democracy and religious freedom, he said, according to state media.
Akbar lauded the Bangladesh premier’s achievement in elevating poverty and ensuring gender equality as no country can be a modern nation without these two parameters.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has translated the theoretical rights into practical reality,” he said.
Akbar said Bangladeshi people elect Sheikh Hasina again and again as the country is marching on the road to a trillion-dollar economy with inclusive growth.