'Poverty is our number one enemy' (BANGLADESH NEWS)

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, in her first public statement since a landslide win in Monday's election, urged all to work together to overcome poverty, which she called Bangladesh's "number one enemy". Stressing the role of the opposition in future governance, she urged all political parties "to work together forgetting all divisions at this time" for the betterment of the people and the country. "Our greatest, our number one enemy is poverty," said Hasina, speaking Wednesday to a packed hall at the Bangladesh-China Conference Centre. "Our first task will be to lower prices of commodities to bring them within the reach of the poor." "We want to avoid destructive politics," said the AL chief about to enter her second term as prime minister. "We will ensure the role and participation of the opposition in parliament and governance." She said not only would the deputy speaker be an opposition member but chairs of parliamentary standing committees would be picked to proportionally represent all parties. When asked whether she would choose ministers from among opposition MPs, she replied that her previous cabinet included two opposition members. "Of course, I don't have a problem with that," said the head of the multi-party alliance that won an unprecedented 262 of 299 seats in Monday's parliamentary poll. The victory was not only her party's or the grand alliance's, she said. "Its a victory of good governance against ill-governance and of peace against terrorism." She thanked voters, especially women and first time voters, for their enthusiastic participation in the much-awauted Dec 29 election. "I thank all who exercised their voting right, those who voted for us and those who voted for other parties, as the participation of all made for a free, fair and credible election," said Hasina. Hasina, flanked by party leaders Zillur Rahman and HT Imam, was half hidden behind a raft of microphones as she gave her thoughtful and well-received statement in the televised press conference on Wednesday morning. An earlier press conference scheduled for the previous afternoon at the National Press Club was deferred at the last moment for a shift to the much larger-capacity hall of the city's largest conference centre. At one point, an audience member, citing John McCain's congratulatory call to Barack Obama, asked whether Hasina's long-time political rival, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, had called to offer her "felicitations". The AL chief hinted that she had not received such a call as yet. Asked in turn whether she had called Khaleda, Hasina replied: "Well, frankly speaking, how would it be? I thought of calling, I even picked up the phone a few times..." Replying to other questions from newsmen on Bangladesh's role in South Asia security, she referred to the party manifesto's promise of forming a joint task force to counter terrorism. "As the key to all instability in this region is terrorism." She also said she would "do anything and everything within my capacity to ease tensions between India and Pakistan". "We will not let our land to be used for harbouring terrorism," she vowed, in reply to a journalist's mention of India's past allegations of Bangladesh 'harbouring terrorists'. Asked whether her government would try the war criminals of 1971, she replied in the positive. "They received the verdict of the people," Hasina added, in a veiled reference to the near wipe-out of BNP ally Bangladesh Jamaat -e-Islami in the just concluded election. Touching on other regional issues, Hasina demanded freedom for Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, though she added that her party believes in friendship with all, enmity with none, "especially with neighbouring countries". "I do not believe in political repression," said the former prime minister who herself spent months in jail between 2007-08 on graft charges brought by the caretaker government as did rival Khaleda Zia. The AL chief 'guaranteed' that no MP of her ruling party or coalition members would engage in corruption, in answer to a query on tackling abuse of power by her fellows. "I can tell you one thing that they will never misuse power as we want to ensure our country and its people a better life," she said, adding that the previous AL rule was "the golden period of Bangladesh in all aspects''.