Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on Sunday dismissed the opposition's latest threat to oust the government through a public campaign.
"The opposition MPs, although taking their benefits as lawmakers, including foreign visits, are staying out of the parliament ... they have been trying to oust my government from the very day we came to power" in 1996, she told Dhaka's foreign press corps.
She added: the opposition has threatened even tougher action from the New Year, "although their previous efforts failed."
"We have entered election year and there is not much time for the elections and I believe a new oust-government campaign will not yield any result," Sheikh Hasina said.
"We will announce the time of elections soon and thus I appeal again to the opposition to return to the parliament and speak their mind instead," she added.
Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chief Khaleda Zia recently reportedly said his party would launch a vigorous campaign to oust Sheikh Hasina.
"Fair elections will be held and Inshallah (God willing) we will win and even with a majority, we will definitely invite others to join the government," the Prime Minister said.
"We want stablity. We achieved independence in 1971 and we have to achieve economic freedom ... we offered it in 1996 when we came to power, but they (the opposition) did not accept it," she added.
The opposition argues that they are not allowed to speak in parliament, although House Speaker Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury has repeatedly denied the charges.
The prime minister, while listing her ruling Awami League government's successes as the economy and foreign relations, stressed her administration was still tackling the country's high crime rate.
More than 200 politically-motivated murders have been committed, mostly against Awami League activists, in the first six months of this year, according to a rights group report published last week -- DHAKA (AFP)
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