Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, one of many BNP’s most senior leaders, was jailed on October 29, 2023 and spent 4 and a half months in jail till he was launched after Hasina gained the election. File | Picture credit score: Reuters
India should extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Normal Secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP), demanded on Monday (August 26, 2024).
Speaking with The Hindu In an interview on the BNP workplace in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighbourhood, Mr Alamgir expressed optimism about working with India and mentioned his occasion would defend Indian investments which are serving to the nation.
“Frankly, we’ll search the extradition of Sheikh Hasina as quite a few instances, together with homicide instances, have been filed in opposition to her,” Alamgir mentioned. He defined that Hasina could be very unpopular in Bangladesh at current and therefore India also needs to consider the temper of the folks. “In that case, India ought to assist Bangladesh to carry her accountable as she has clearly prompted quite a lot of hurt to Bangladesh.”
Mr Alamgir, a prime BNP chief, was jailed on October 29, 2023 and spent 4 and a half months in jail and was launched solely after Ms Hasina gained the election in January this 12 months.
Alamgir’s occasion has been campaigning for a white paper on initiatives and initiatives undertaken through the Hasina years, saying the BNP would re-evaluate a number of high-value initiatives within the vitality and infrastructure sectors that Bangladesh had signed with India. “We will certainly defend the agreements with India which have helped Bangladesh, however there are some agreements, particularly the one on electrical energy commerce with Adani, which have raised enormous doubts among the many folks,” Alamgir mentioned.
Mr Alamgir additionally indicated his occasion’s place on the formidable Indo-Bangladeshi plans that have been mentioned throughout Ms Hasina’s final go to as Prime Minister to India in June, when the 2 sides proposed to attach the Gede crossing in West Bengal to Hasimara-Dalgaon, close to the India-Bhutan border, by way of Chilahati-Haldibari within the delta area of North Bengal. “There are numerous connectivity initiatives which were very helpful to us, however we don’t suppose there’s any logical rationalization for the newest settlement that Sheikh Hasina concluded throughout her go to to India in June,” Mr Alamgir mentioned.
He asserted that points like border killings and water sharing could be successfully addressed if the connection stays on observe. Alamgir mentioned the BNP had prolonged its hand to India on a number of events prior to now, together with earlier than the January 2024 elections, however these initiatives didn’t work. “India had stored all its fruits in a single basket and that’s the reason our initiatives didn’t work then. Now we have to reset the connection with India at a quick tempo. We all the time needed a useful relationship with India.”
“Sadly, there was no direct communication from the Indian aspect up to now,” Alamgir mentioned.
Following the autumn of the Awami League authorities, the BNP has prolonged its assist to the interim authorities led by Professor Yunus by pledging cooperation for a “affordable time period”. It has additionally indicated that it is able to face recent elections through which it’s anticipated to do nicely. On Sunday (25 August 2024), the interim authorities’s chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, in his nationally televised tackle, promised to carry elections after a “political dialogue”. Mr Alamgir gave the impression to be disenchanted by Professor Yunus’ speech as he didn’t point out a transparent timeline for the democratic transition.
“We’re optimistic that the interim authorities will have the ability to create a beneficial surroundings for elections inside a brief time period. Nonetheless, Mr Yunus has not mentioned clearly how a lot time he’ll want earlier than calling for elections. We’d really feel higher if he clarified the timeline he has in thoughts,” Mr Alamgir mentioned, indicating that there’s agitation throughout the BNP over holding early elections in Bangladesh.
