In an unique e mail interview to PTI from an undisclosed location in India, Ms. Hasina additionally accused the unelected Mr. Yunus administration of “endangering ties with India and empowering extremist forces”.
Contrasting her overseas coverage with that of the present interim authorities, she stated the “broad and deep” relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi ought to be capable of stand up to the “foolhardiness of the Yunus interlude”.
Ms. Hasina thanked the Indian authorities for offering her refuge and stated she was “immensely grateful to India’s authorities and its individuals for his or her sort hospitality”.
“The most essential situation for my return to Bangladesh is similar situation that the Bangladeshi individuals require: a return to participatory democracy. The interim administration should rescind its ban on the Awami League and permit elections which might be free, honest, and inclusive,” she informed PTI.
Ms. Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, left the nation on August 5, 2024, after weeks of violent anti-government protests. The huge agitation pressured her resignation and eventual transfer to India, paving the best way for the Yunus-led interim administration.
Asked whether or not her authorities mishandled the protests, the 78-year-old chief stated, “Obviously, we lost control of the situation and that was regrettable.”
“There are many lessons to be learned from these terrible incidents, but in my view, some of the responsibility is also on the so-called student leaders (actually seasoned political firebrands) who whipped up the crowds.”
Ms. Hasina additionally rejected reviews that she had referred to as for a boycott of the polls, scheduled for February subsequent 12 months, and insisted that any election excluding the Awami League would lack legitimacy.
“Tens of tens of millions of individuals help us…That could be an enormous missed alternative for our nation, which badly wants a authorities ruling with the individuals’s real consent. I hope this silly ban will probably be rescinded…Whether in authorities or in opposition, the Awami League must be a part of the political dialog in Bangladesh,” she stated.
Asserting that India has “all the time been Bangladesh’s most essential worldwide relationship”, Ms. Hasina accused the interim authorities underneath Mr. Yunus of jeopardising ties with New Delhi by way of what she referred to as “silly and self-defeating” diplomatic missteps.
“Yunus’ hostility to India is silly and self-defeating within the excessive and divulges him for the weak monarch he’s, unelected, chaotic, and dependent upon the help of extremists,” she alleged.
“I hope he doesn’t make too many extra diplomatic missteps earlier than exiting the stage.”
To Indians frightened in regards to the present hostile setting in Bangladesh, Ms. Hasina provided reassurance, “The interim authorities doesn’t symbolize what our countrymen and girls assume. India is and can stay our nation’s most essential pal.”
Ms. Hasina additionally stated she was ready to face trial underneath worldwide supervision “even on the International Criminal Court” however alleged that Yunus has averted such a course of as a result of an neutral tribunal would acquit her.
“I’ve repeatedly challenged Yunus’ authorities to prosecute me within the International Criminal Court, if it’s so assured of its case. Yunus continues to duck this problem as a result of he is aware of that the ICC, a genuinely neutral tribunal, will surely acquit me,” she stated.
She dismissed Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, which has initiated proceedings towards her and the place prosecutors are searching for the dying penalty, as “a kangaroo tribunal” managed by her political opponents.
“They try to neutralise each me and the Awami League as political forces. The incontrovertible fact that they might use the dying penalty to suppress their opponents reveals how little respect they’ve for democracy or due course of,” she alleged.
According to Ms. Hasina, Mr. Yunus loved “not less than the passive help of some western liberals” who wrongly thought he was one among them.
“Now that they’ve seen him place radicals into his cupboard, discriminate towards minorities, and dismantle the structure, hopefully they’re withdrawing their help,” she stated.
