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Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, one of the most senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), 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) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday (August 26, 2024) asked India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh.
Working with Hinduism In an interview at the Bangladesh Nationalist Party office in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighborhood, Alamgir expressed optimism about engaging with India and said his party would protect Indian investments that help the country.
“Frankly speaking, we will seek the extradition of Sheikh Hasina because there are already a large number of cases, including murder, filed against her,” Mr Alamgir said. He explained that Ms Hasina is currently very unpopular in Bangladesh, so India should also take note of the public sentiment. “In this case, India should help Bangladesh hold her accountable because she has clearly caused a lot of harm to Bangladesh.”
Mr. Alamgir, one of the most senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested on October 29, 2023 and spent four and a half months in jail before being released after Ms. Hasina won the general election in January this year.
Mr Alamgir’s party has been campaigning for a white paper on projects and initiatives undertaken during Hasina’s rule, suggesting the Bangladesh Nationalist Party will reassess several high-value projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors signed by Bangladesh with India. “We will definitely protect those agreements with India that are helpful to Bangladesh, but there are some agreements, especially the power trade deal with Adani, that raise huge doubts,” Mr Alamgir said.
Mr Alamgir also stated his party’s position on the ambitious Indo-Bangladesh plan, which was mooted during Ms Hasina’s visit to India as prime minister in June, when the two sides proposed to connect the Gede crossing point in West Bengal to Hasimara-Dalgaon near the Indo-Bhutan border via Chilahati-Haldibari in the north Bengal delta region. “Many connectivity projects have brought us a lot of benefits. But we do not see any rational explanation for the latest agreement reached during Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in June,” Mr Alamgir said.
He said that if the relationship between the two countries maintained normal development, issues such as border killings and water sharing could be effectively resolved. Alamgir said that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had reached out to India many times in the past, including before the general election in January 2024, but these initiatives did not work. “India put all the results in one basket, that’s why our initiatives did not work then. Now we need to quickly restart relations with India. We have always wanted to establish an effective relationship with India.”
“Unfortunately, there has been no direct communication from the Indian side so far,” Mr Alamgir said.
After the collapse of the Awami League government, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party expressed support to the interim government led by Professor Yunus and pledged to cooperate for “a reasonable period of time”. The party also said it was ready for new elections, in which it expected to do well. On Sunday (August 25, 2024), Mohammad Yunus, chief adviser to the interim government, promised in a nationally televised address that elections would be held after “political dialogue”. Mr. Alamgir seemed disappointed with Professor Yunus’ speech because it did not clearly indicate a timetable for democratic transition.
“We are optimistic that the interim government will be able to create an environment conducive to elections within a short period of time. However, Mr. Yunus has not made it clear how much time he will need to hold elections. We would feel better if he could clarify the timeline he has in mind,” Mr. Alamgir said, indicating the debate within the Bangladesh Nationalist Party over holding early elections in Bangladesh.
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