A top Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader has said Bangladeshis are “not angry but hurt” over deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s stay in India, even as he urged politicians and security strategists in New Delhi to “rethink” their policy given the ground reality.

In an exclusive interview with PTI at his residence in Dhaka, Abdul Moyeen Khan, a former Cabinet minister of Bangladesh, also said his country shares border with India on three sides and it is a big neighbour, so there is “no reason why India should not be our best friend”.

After unprecedented anti-government protests which reached a crescendo on August 5, Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country, even as protesters had termed the fall of the government and her departure a “day of victory”.

She landed in India on August 5 and is currently staying there, even as her over two-week-long presence in India has given rise to speculation here.

Khan said the current situation is of “consolidation” and coming back to normalcy.

The interim government led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus is trying to stabilise the country and electoral reforms are their “top priority”.

Asked if elections are held in Bangladesh what are the prospects for the BNP led by former prime minister Khalida Zia, he said, “If there is a free and fair election, our prospects will be decided by the people. If they want us to be the majority or not, we will respect that, the will of the people is supreme in a democratic system.”

The 77-year-old veteran leader is also a member of the National Standing Committee of the BNP, a party that was established in 1978. He served as a Cabinet minister under the tenure of the then-prime minister Zia.

“The current situation is quite clear. It is amazing how the country is settling back after such a big upheaval. People are trying to get back to their normal day-to-day life. The (interim) government is trying to normalise everything. They are up to their main mandate which is the transition from autocracy to democracy,” Khan told PTI on Thursday.

Asked how he saw the trajectory of the Dhaka-New Delhi ties because of the presence of Hasina in India, he said it “depends entirely on how India decides”.

On Hasina’s stay in India after fleeing Bangladesh, he said “Bangladeshi are not angry, but hurt, wounded..as they never expected this”.

The former Cabinet minister claimed that New Delhi’s behaviour towards Awami League and Hasina has “transformed into anti-Indian feeling in a real sense of the term”.

“There is no reason for us to be unfriendly with India unless India behaves in a way that forces the people of Bangladesh to doubt their intentions,” he added.

Source: The Tribune

BDST: 1340 HRS, AUG 23, 2024
MN