Play store
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has criticized India for taking a contradictory position on former prime minister Sheikh Hasina by giving her a political platform while seeking friendly ties with Bangladesh.
He said such positions could not go together, adding that relations must be based on mutual respect and sovereignty.
Speaking at a discussion at Dhaka University on Saturday, Salahuddin accused Hasina of “conspiring against the government from India and making provocative remarks”.
He added that Indian government’s repeated platforming of her for meetings and statements was not what one would expect from a friendly neighbour.
The BNP leader, who was detained in India after going missing from Dhaka in 2015, said Bangladesh wanted friendly ties with India based on mutual dependence but would put its own interests first.
He also accused the former Awami League government of relying on India to stay in power.
Referring to the mass casualties of the July Uprising, the BNP leader said a United Nations report found Hasina had ordered the killing of more than 1,400 people.
“Children and women were shot from helicopters in the sky. Bangladeshis are asking how India can shelter and indulge such a convicted criminal and human rights violator as though she were a democratic leader,” he said.
Salahuddin himself went missing from Dhaka’s Uttara on Mar 10, 2015, amid BNP’s movement against the Awami League government, when he was serving as the party’s joint secretary general and spokesman.
He was found 63 days later, in a disoriented state, by police in Meghalaya’s Shillong on May 11 that year, and hospitalised.
Since he had no valid documents for entering India, Meghalaya police booked him under the Foreigners Act and showed him arrested.