Reorganise the party, Sakhawat tells AL

Home Affairs Adviser Brigadier General (Retired) Sakhawat Hussain today advised Awami League to reorganise the party and take part in the next election.
“Do not do anything to endanger lives. The people of this country have not yet come to accept you … I think [you should] reorganise the party. This party has huge contribution,” he told reporters after visiting injured Ansar members at Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka.
“Participate when the election comes,” he added.
“Will you [Awami League] hand over this country to someone else? Then you will hand over the country to someone else standing on the 30-lakh people who sacrificed their lives [in the Liberation War]. Whatever you did, do not do it,” he said.
“People of the country have not forgotten everything so fast. Give them time, possibly they will forget. The leaders who you were following are now in hiding,” he said.
Sakhawat said, “It [AL] is a big party. I have a lot of respect for the party. People of the country once relied on the party.”
“We don’t want violence anymore. Already 400 to 500 people, or more, from all sides including police and Ansar men, were killed,” he said.
“If we had provoked, you would not have survived in the face of army fire. We said, don’t open fire. Because who are you going to kill? You killed your child with the police,” the adviser said.
Before Sheikh Hasina fell on August 5, Sakhawat was among retired army officials who called on the army not to fire upon people.
“Don’t spoil this party for personal gain. This was Bangabandhu’s dream, you have no right to destroy it. It is the property of Bangladesh,” he said.
Sakhawat said “If you dream that you will come back with a counter revolution, it would need the blood of thousands of people to flow. If you can take that responsibility, take it.”
The students sacrificed their lives for the movement that ousted the government, not any political party, he added.
Sakhawat was sworn in as part of the new interim government on Thursday.