Bangladesh wants to revive SAARC; no plans of allowing Pakistan army, says Yunus’ aide

The interim government in Bangladesh led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus wants good relations with all the SAARC nations and is working for its “revival”.

In a telephonic interview with CNN-News18, Shafikul Alam, press secretary of Yunus said there are no plans to let the Pakistan army operate in Bangladesh. “Yunus wants the revival of SAARC and a good relationship with all countries, so he wants good relations with all SAARC countries that also include Pakistan. As part of this, we are building good relations. There are no plans of allowing the Pakistani army in Bangladesh,” Alam told.

Speaking about the revocation of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s passport, Alam said the Bangladesh government has sent a note to India regarding her extradition. “And we expect India would respond to it,” he said.

According to Alalm, Hasina is wanted for numerous crimes in Bangladesh. “She is wanted for murder and forced disappearance of people and there are allegations of corruption, extra-judicial killings etc. Her rule was known for widespread human rights violations, murders and mayhem. She is wanted for a lot of crimes. Yes, her passport has been revoked,” he said.

Chinmay Prabhu’s bail

Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, also known as Krishna Prabhu Das, was arrested in Bangladesh a day before on charges of sedition. Alam said a fair trial would be conducted. “We assure a free and fair trial. This is one of the priorities of the government. We have restored the independence of the judiciary,” he told.

His comment came after a court in Bangladesh court on January 2 rejected the bail plea of Das.

Alam did not reveal any possibilities of a meeting between India and Bangladesh. “We don’t know when the next meeting could take place between the two sides. We have a good relationship with India. We share a lot of commonalities with India,” he told.

On Yunus travelling to foreign countries but not to India, his press secretary said that all those visits were multilateral in nature and no bilateral tours have taken place so far.

“All were multilateral visits of Yunus – UNGA America, D8 to Egypt & COP29 in Davos. We said we want good relations with India. The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry can say on its visit to India, I can’t comment,” he said.

However, Alam denied any impact on India-Bangladesh trade since Hasina’s ouster. Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, resigned in the face of massive public protests and fled to India in August 2023.

Alam also termed the reports of violence against religious minorities in Bangladesh an “exaggeration”.

“Lot of exaggeration in the Indian media. We have issued figures on the number of people arrested in those violence. We restored order. On Durga Puja, there were no violent incidents and we also gave two days of holidays to Hindu brothers and sisters. We have zero tolerance towards such incidents of violence,” he told.