Sheikh Hasina’s Stay Won’t Impact Ties With India: Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser | Exclusive

Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, in a diplomatic briefing at the state guesthouse Padma, said that former Prime Ministet Sheikh Hasina’s stay in New Delhi will not have any impact on the bilateral relationship between the two countries, according to local sources.

“There will be no impact on the bilateral relationship between the two countries because of one individual’s stay in a country. Bilateral relations are very big and involve mutual interests. Both sides have their interests," sources said, quoting him.

This was the first diplomatic briefing of the new interim government.

Last week, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the arch-rival of ousted Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, on Friday said her decision to stay in India was entirely hers and that of the Indian authorities but cautioned that the people of Bangladesh “will not see it in a good light". Hasina resigned and fled to India on Monday following the political turmoil in Bangladesh. Senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and party spokesman Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told PTI, “Right now, she (Hasina) is the most wanted person in Bangladesh to be exposed to justice for numerous crimes – from murders and forced disappearances to massive corruption like siphoning out of billions of dollars."

Chowdhury, however, said, it was a “matter of decision by Hasina herself and the Indian government whether she should stay in the neighbouring country" and added that BNP did not have any say in this issue.

Hasina landed at the Hindon airbase near Delhi on August 5, as part of her plan to go to London, hours after she resigned as the Bangladesh prime minister following weeks of anti-government protests that killed nearly 300 people. With her asylum not working out in the UK or US, she has extended her stay in India on visa.

She is now exploring her options for asylum in the UAE and European countries.

Hasina will be back in the country as soon as democracy is restored, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said last week. Prof Mohammad Yunus took oath as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on Thursday.