Stating that the 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed with India during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi are just a 'new version of slavery', BNP on Sunday demanded the government to make public immediately all the agreements signed with the neighbouring country.
The party also expressed concern that granting India a rail corridor, allowing it to develop a network of railway tracks through Bangladesh, would be suicidal and contrary to national interests.
Speaking at a press conference at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office, Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said they will create public opinion against the anti-state deals and MoUs with India.
"The present head of the illegal mafia government, Sheikh Hasina, who has taken away people's voting rights, has signed 10 MoUs with India. It is a new version of slavery,” he said.
The BNP leader said providing India with a corridor under the guise of connectivity, to link one part of India to another via railway tracks passing through Bangladesh, will jeopardise the sovereignty and national security of Bangladesh.
“Sheikh Hasina has been indulged in a reprehensible conspiracy to ensnare Bangladesh in a prolonged deep trap of India's slavery through the MoUs, sacrificing the nation's independence and sovereignty. Such agreements against national interests will not be accepted by people," he said.
Fakhrul alleged that Sheikh Hasina, who is running the country without a public mandate, signed the anti-state MoUs as a kickback to India in exchange for an extension of Awami League’s illegitimate grip on state power, rather than for the welfare of the country and its people.
“We demand that all agreements signed with India, including the recent ones, be made public immediately. We want to reiterate that the people will never accept these agreements against sovereignty, national interest and national security. BNP rejects all these anti-national deals and MoUs,” Fakhrul said.
He said the deals under the guise of MoUs signed on June 22, 2024 will turn Bangladesh into India's lifelong slave, posing a threat of Bangladesh's national security. “Through these agreements and MoUs our country's defence and national security has been made a part of India's national defence and security, which is very dangerous and a threat to the country's independence,” the BNP leader said.
In fact, he said Sheikh Hasina wants to allow India to use Bangladesh as a security strategic "buffer state" in regional geopolitics through the MoUs. “As a result, Bangladesh will definitely get involved in the complexities of regional geopolitical rivalry.”
On June 21, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to India on a two-day state visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
On the second day of the visit, Dhaka and New Delhi signed 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), seven of these new and three renewed to further consolidate the ever-growing relationship between the two neighbouring countries.
According to the Indian Media reports rail tracks will be set up through Bangladesh to connect the Indian Railways to the northeast with the rest of the country, bypassing a 22 km route through the Siliguri Corridor, commonly known as the ‘Chicken's Neck.
Bangladesh gains nothing
Fakhrul said Bangladesh's achievements are zero in the 10 MoUs that were signed under various names.
“It is clear to the people that these MoUs have been signed out of Sheikh Hasina's responsibility to express gratitude to India rather than protecting the country's interests. These deals have no relation to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh."
He said increasing the flow of Teesta water was not on the agenda during Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India this time. “But that should have been the highest priority. The Teesta Agreement was supposed to be signed during the visit of the then India Prime Minister to Dhaka in 2011, but it has not been implemented till date.”
In the last 14 years, the BNP leader said the Teesta River has dried up and turned into a desert, but this crisis has not been resolved. “In order to get rid of this situation, Teesta water conservation and management project was adopted.”
Fakhrul opposed India’s proposal for participating in the Teesta water conservation and management project since it was taken as Bangladesh is being deprived of the fair share of the water of the river due to the hostile attitude of the neighbouring country. “So, if they (India) are engaged in this project, it will be a conflict of interest and suicidal."
“The current illegitimate government appears to have delegated the power to take an independent decision on the Teesta project to the Indian authorities. It’s an expression of the knee-jerk foreign policy of the current government which has become isolated from the people,” he observed.
The BNP leader slammed the current government for what he said playing a silent role in stopping the record number of killings of Bangladeshis along the border by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
Citing statistics from Ain O Salish Kendra, Fakhrul said at least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 injured by Indian border forces between 2000 and 2020 "Even members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were not spared from BSF firing."
He also said the MoUs signed with India will virtually ensure the unilateral interests of India. "In this era of globalisation and free market economy, BNP's position is to maintain good relations with all friendly countries, to create connectivity in various ways and increase various partnerships, including trade. But whatever way connectivity is enhanced by road, water or rail, national interest has to be considered first,” the BNP leader viewed.
He said the country’s sovereignty cannot be compromised in any way to enhance relations with other countries.
“But the current illegitimate government of Sheikh Hasina has put national security and sovereignty under threat in the nefarious interests of maintaining illegitimate power.”
BNP Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Nazrul Islam Khan, and Selima Rahman, among others, were present at the press conference.