Health and family welfare minister and Awami League (AL) presidium member Mohammad Nasim yesterday demanded the formation of an investigation commission to find out the names of the conspirators behind the 1/11 changeover in 2007and thereby unmask them. “If the incidents are not unveiled through the formation of this commission, the recurrence of such incidents will not stop,” he said while addressing the three-day-long 6th South Asian Neurosurgical Congress and 8th International Scientific Conference at the Pan-Pacific Sonargaon hotel in the capital as the chief guest. “Those who were the villains during 1/11 are becoming heroes. Mahfuz Anam said he had committed mistakes. If anyone crosses his limit, he must commit mistakes. But admitting mistakes is not enough, he must resign,” said the minister.
Mohammad Nasim also said some conspirators wanted to eliminate Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia from politics during the 1/11 episode. “Some evil forces wanted to grab power, but Sheikh Hasina has brought back democracy in the country with her ability and efficiency in politics,” he added.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been in jail for 11 months. I, too, had been in prison for two years during the time. They tried to destroy democracy in the country,” he said. The health minister also said: “It is not possible to forget the past. We cannot move forward if we do not learn from the past. So, a commission must be formed to find out the incidents during 1/11 if we want to come out of the dark past.” In another context, referring to the government’s contribution to the medical field, the minister said, “We have achieved noticeable improvements in medical service with the goodwill of the PM.” The minister said a modern national neurosurgical institute has been established at Agargaon in the capital. “But the patients do not go there for treatment as they don’t know about the institution,” he rued. He urged journalists to write reports on the hospital so that people may know about this specialised hospital. The South Asian Association of Neurosurgeons and the Bangladesh Society of Neurosurgeons jointly organised the conference. Thirty-five foreign surgeons from different countries—including the US, Germany, Turkey, Nepal, India, Japan and Singapore—took part in the conference.