Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina revealed that she was offered a hassle-free re-election in the January 7 polls if she permitted a foreign country to build an airbase within Bangladeshi territory.
Sheikh Hasina, 76, has been leading the strategically located South Asian nation since 2009 and secured a fifth overall term in the January election, which was boycotted by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khalida Zia.
“If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem,” The Daily Star Bangladesh quoted Hasina as saying on Sunday. Sheikh Hasina Alleges Plot to Carve Out Christian Country from Bangladesh: Report
“There will be more trouble. But don’t worry about it,” she said. She did not name the country that made the offer but emphasized that the “offer came from a White man. It may appear that it is aimed at only one country, but it is not. I know where else they intend to go,” she said, adding that this is why her Awami League party-led government is always in trouble.
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“I’ve clearly said that I’m the daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. . . we won our Liberation War, I don’t want to come to power by renting part of the country or handing it over to some other country, and I don’t need power,” she said. The premier stated that she would only come to power if the people wanted her to and would not if they did not want her as prime minister.
Ms. Hasina said she was fighting battles on multiple fronts, both domestically and internationally, and that “conspiracies are still ongoing” to carve a new country out of Bangladesh. “Like East Timor… they will carve out a Christian country, taking parts of Bangladesh (Chattogram) and Myanmar, with a base in the Bay of Bengal,” Ms. Hasina stated, without providing further details.
She mentioned that plots were being devised to overthrow her government and suggested she might face the same fate as her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated on August 15, 1975, along with most of his family. Ms. Hasina and her sister survived as they were abroad at the time.
Ms. Hasina emphasized that these conspiracies did not intimidate her and that she would never bow to pressure. Furthermore, Ms. Hasina said Bangladesh would not purchase anything from countries that imposed sanctions on it, according to a top leader of the 14-party alliance who quoted her from a closed-door meeting.
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