DHAKA, Sept 11, 2024 (BSS) - Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today 
said his government is committed to presenting an outline of democratic 
Bangladesh for the future generation. 

"We are committed to formulating an outline of a democratic Bangladesh for 
our children so that we don't fall into the hands of any dictatorship and we 
can say we live in a democratic country...so that we all can claim that this 
country is ours - we're working towards this goal," he told the televised 
address before the nation this afternoon.
 
Urging all not to take the law into their own hands, Prof Yunus warned that 
if anyone takes the law into his or her own hands and creates a chaotic 
situation in the society, he or she will definitely be brought to justice.
 
"We (Bangladesh) are a nation of communal harmony. No one shall do any act 
that destroys religious harmony," he said.

At the onset of his speech, the chief adviser recalled the martyrs and the 
victims who participated in the student-people revolution against the fascist 
force. 

He reiterated that the families of all the martyrs would be rehabilitated 
while the government will bear the entire expenditures for the treatment of 
all injured students, workers and commoners.

 A complete list of martyrs and injured has been prepared for the long-term 
and costly treatment for the injured and looking after the families of the 
martyrs, he said, adding that updates of this list will be made.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate said the government took an initiative to 
establish a foundation named 'July Ganahattya Smriti Foundation' to preserve 
the memory of the martyrs of the mass uprising.
 
"Now this foundation has been established. This foundation is taking full 
responsibility of all martyrs' families and families of victims along with 
providing best treatment to injured ones. We urge all people of the country 
and Bangladeshis living abroad to donate to this foundation," he said.

About law and order situation, Prof Yunus said his government is sincerely 
working to improve the law and order in the country.
 
Many people, he said, have been staging rallies and demonstrations to express 
their pains they suffered in the last 16 years and seeking its remedy, which 
created impediment to the movement of people.

"I promise you that I will not forget your righteous plea. We are committed 
to giving remedy to all wrongs. We will try best to resolve all problems as 
much as possible within our responsibility. I again request you to refrain 
from disrupting your movement. The nation will be grateful to you," he said.

Referring to the allegations of workers in RMG and medicine industries, the 
chief adviser said the institutional structure is almost destroyed, while 
foreign exchange reserves have hit rock bottom.
 
"We are trying to bring life into this economy. We are also getting response 
to our initiative. If our industrial plants are closed down and get non-
operational at this time, the country's economy will be hit hard. That cannot 
be expected in anyway," he said.

The chief adviser asked the factory owners to resolve their problems in 
consultation with workers and keep their factories operational, resulting in 
making the poor economy healthy.

Prof Yunus said all should work together to build a society based on 
justice, while the criminal cases, except murder cases, filed from July 1 to 
August 5 to suppress the mass movement have been withdrawn and all 
those arrested in these cases have been released.

He said the interim government has embarked on major reforms in 
judiciary since taking of its office. 

Appointment of the most qualified person as the Chief Justice has 
instilled new hope in people's minds, he said, adding that appointment 
of Judges of Appellate Division, Attorney General and many important 
appointments have all been completed.

The false cases filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Digital/Cyber 
Security Act to harass people are being withdrawn, the chief adviser said.

He said there are many black laws including the Cyber Security Act in 
Bangladesh and those black laws will be repealed and amended soon. 

Prof Yunus said assistance is being provided for the investigation into 
and trial of the five much-talked-about murders, including the killing of 
journalist Sagar-Rony, on a priority basis and for settlement these cases 
at the earliest time.

The government, he said, recently signed an international convention to 
protect people from enforced disappearance and “as a result, we are 
committed internationally to ending the ‘the culture of disappearance’ 
established by dictatorship”. 

“We are also forming a separate commission to investigate every case of 
enforced disappearance during the 15 years of fascist rule,” he said. 

Aynaghor (Mirror house) has been closed and at the same time the story 
of the suffering and pain of families of the people disappeared by the 
fascist Hasina government is coming out, the chief adviser said.

“We have our full eye on the education system to ensure a bright future 
for our young generation,” he said.

“Already, the present flawed curriculum from class I to class XII has been 
changed. The work of correcting and revising the textbooks is at final 
stage. This reform work will continue,” he added.

In the first month, Prof Yunus said, the government started the process 
of appointing Vice-Chancellors and Pro Vice-Chancellors, who are 
acceptable to all, in every university. 

As a result, an environment has been created to start work with new 
enthusiasm in all public and private universities, he said.

Claiming that the full freedom of press and expression has already been 
ensured, the chief adviser said the government is considering formation 
of a Media Commission so that the media can do their work smoothly. 

He said to indentify the fake freedom fighters and skip the names of 
freedom fighters with age of less than 12.5 years during the liberation 
war from the list of freedom fighters, the government has taken an 
initiative to summit leave to appeal before the Supreme Court.

Measures have also been taken to recover the grabbed immovable assets 
of the Freedom Fighters’ Welfare Trust, he added.

"We want our country to be known with dignity to the world as a democratic 
country. The planning of the country should be centered on the people of the 
country, not on any leader or party," Dr Yunus said.

He said autocratic Hasina government unnecessarily implemented projects 
involving crores of money which were never meant for the people of the 
country, but ugly egos and large-scale theft were involved with those.
 
The Chief Adviser said the government has already started the process of 
scrutinizing all the ongoing and proposed development projects. 

Considering the stage of implementation of the projects, cost savings in the 
remaining works and even cancellation of those will be considered if 
necessary, he said. 

Noting that none will be allowed to cheat with the people anymore, he said 
the government will give priority to projects that will create employment.

Dr Yunus said the government has taken initiative to bring back looted and 
laundered money. 

An initiative has also been taken to form a banking commission to restore 
order in the financial sector, he said, adding that boards of directors of 
various banks have been reconstituted so that there has been a big change in 
the banking sector in this one month.
 
"We have established rules and regulations in this sector. Much more work 
remains to be done. We did only the main tasks as the first month's work," he 
said.

Dr Yunus said the people of the country have been victims of inflation due to 
the fact that the fascist government printed a new Taka 60,000 crores and 
released it to the money market for looting. 

Containing this unprecedented inflation is one of the main goals of the 
interim government, he said, adding that the policy interest rate has been 
raised to 9 percent to check inflation. 

In order to protect the common people from price inflation, OMS, food 
friendly programs including providing essential commodities to the marginal 
people at affordable prices have been continued, he said.
 
Tk 5,800 crore for import of rice and wheat, Tk 8,900 crore for internal 
procurement and Tk 7,360 crore for three food subsidy programmes have been 
earmarked in the current financial year to combat inflation, he said.

An additional USD three billion has been requested from the International 
Monetary Fund (IMF) while an additional USD one billion from the World Bank, 
and an additional USD one billion from JICA, he said. 

The Ministry of Finance continues discussions with the Russian Federation 
regarding the payment of advances and outstanding for the Rooppur Nuclear 
Power Plant construction project, he said. 

Initiatives have been taken to utilize the USD 48 billion in foreign aid in 
the pipeline, he mentioned.

Dr Yunus said plans have been adopted to stop looting money in the name of 
megaprojects as well as increase allocations in health and education sectors.