Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, one of the most senior BNP leaders, was jailed on October 29, 2023, and spent four-and-a-half months in prison until he was released after Ms Hasina won the election. File | Photo credit: Reuters
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday (August 26, 2024) demanded that India should extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh.
while talking to the hindu In an interview at the BNP office in Dhaka’s Gulshan area, Mr Alamgir expressed optimism about ties with India and said his party would protect Indian investments that were helping the country.
Mr. Alamgir said, “Frankly, we will seek the extradition of Sheikh Hasina as there are already many cases registered against her including murder cases.” He elaborated that Ms. Hasina is currently very unpopular in Bangladesh and therefore India should also take cognizance of the public mood. “In such a situation, India should help Bangladesh in getting accountability from her as she has clearly caused a lot of damage to Bangladesh.”
Mr. Alamgir, who is one of the most senior BNP leaders, was jailed on October 29, 2023 and spent four-and-a-half months in prison and was released only after Ms. Hasina won the election in January this year.
Mr Alamgir’s party is campaigning for a white paper on projects and initiatives launched during Hasina’s tenure, indicating that the BNP will re-evaluate several high-value projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors that Bangladesh signed with India. “We will definitely protect the agreements with India that have helped Bangladesh, but there are some agreements, especially about power trade with Adani, which have raised tremendous suspicion among the people,” Mr Alamgir said.
Mr. Alamgir also indicated his party’s position on the ambitious India-Bangladesh plans raised during Ms. Hasina’s last prime ministerial visit to India in June, when the two sides proposed to link Hasimara-Dalgaon near the India-Bhutan border with Gede crossing in West Bengal via Chilahati-Haldibari in the North Bengal delta region. “There are many connectivity projects that have worked very well for us. But we don’t think there is any logical explanation for the latest agreement reached by Sheikh Hasina during her visit to India in June,” Mr. Alamgir said.
He said issues such as border killings and water sharing could be dealt with effectively if the relationship remained on the right track. Mr Alamgir said the BNP had reached out to India on several occasions even before the January 2024 election, but those initiatives did not work out. “India had put all its fruits in one basket and that is why our initiatives did not work out then. Now we need to restart relations with India at a fast pace. We always wanted a functional relationship with India.”
Mr Alamgir said, “Unfortunately, there has been no direct communication with the Indian side so far.”
After the fall of the Awami League government, the BNP has extended support to the interim government led by Prof Yunus and promised cooperation for a “reasonable period of time”. It has also indicated that it is ready to face fresh elections, where it is expected to perform better. On Sunday (August 25, 2024), Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the interim government, promised to hold elections after “political dialogue” in his nationally televised speech. Mr Alamgir seemed disappointed with Prof Yunus’ speech as it did not indicate a clear timeline for democratic transition.
“We hope that the interim government will be able to create an election-conducive atmosphere in a short time. However, Mr Yunus has not clearly stated how much time he needs before holding elections. We will feel better if he clarifies the timeline he has in mind,” Mr Alamgir said, indicating brainstorming within the BNP to hold early elections in Bangladesh.