By Sumi Khan

Dhaka, Aug 31 (IANS): Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged the people to remain alert as "anti-liberation forces", along with their associates, are still conspiring against the country, "taking assistance from abroad".

"War criminals, defeated forces, August 15 killers, and their children are still conspiring against Bangladesh. They're plotting against the country," she said in her address at a programme of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of her Awami League, at Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh (KIB) to mark the National Mourning Day.

"Evil forces are pampered by some international forces which had acted against Bangladesh's Liberation War. The nation must remain alert about it," she said, joining the programme virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.

At the beginning of the programme, a one-minute silence was observed to show respect to the martyrs of the August 15, 1975 massacre, where her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of the family were killed.

Hasina, the chief patron of BCL, asked its members and ruling party activists and leaders to work for the country being imbued with patriotism and follow the ideals of Bangabandhu, the Father of the Nation.

Referring to his hectic nation-building hectic effort, she said the defeated forces staged the August 15 massacre when they saw Bangladesh cannot be stopped from its economic march forward. "We've to move forward keeping that in our mind."

She said the defeated forces of 1971 took their revenge with the August 15 carnage and distorted the history of Bangladesh after that, including its liberation struggle.

About Ziaur Rahman, who seized power after Sheikh Mujib's assassination, and his engagement in the Liberation War in 1971, Hasina said there is no instance that he fired a single shot at the Pakistani forces. "No one can prove that."

She mentioned that Mustaq, Rashid and Farooq, proclaimed killers of Sheikh Mujib, in their interviews with the BBC, admitted that Ziaur Rahman was always with them. "Zia was the source of all power (for them), he betrayed Sheikh Mujib," she stressed.

The PM said she is surprised that these people, who had always visited Bangabandhu's house for various purposes, including personal matters, killed him. "How could they do that!"

She also highlighted the sacrifice of her mother Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib.

"My father could fully engage in the service of the country as he got such a companion beside him... this is a rare instance," she said.

The Prime Minister stressed all that Bangladesh has many enemies and massive hurdles in every step of its development journey

"Our path of progress is not smooth. It is rather full of hurdles, but we've to move forward overcoming all the odds and obstacles, and we're doing that," she said, adding Bangladesh has stood out on the world stage in the last 12 years.

The Prime Minister earlier unveiled a book titled "Matribhumi" and the "Joy Bangla Magazine".