Bangladesh

US may not want me in power: Sheikh Hasina to BBC US-Bangladesh
PID Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

US may not want me in power: Sheikh Hasina to BBC

Bangladesh Live News | @banglalivenews | 16 May 2023, 10:59 pm

Dhaka, May 16: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the United States may not want her in power as the  banned Bangladesh's special security forces. She claimed that due to the continuation of democracy in Bangladesh for the last 14 years, there has been extraordinary development in the country.

Sheikh Hasina said these things in an exclusive interview with BBC's Yalda Hakim during her recent visit to the UK.

Rejecting the system of autocracy or dictatorship that has been developed in Bangladesh by various international human rights organizations, she said, "The country has a real democratic system for the last 14 years, so we can improve."

The BBC asked her why she thinks the United States has banned RAB, a special security force in Bangladesh. In this regard, Sheikh Hasina said, "The force on which they have banned was established in 2004 on their advice. All the training and equipment were given to them by the United States. I believe that they are working the way they created the force. So why are they banning this? That's a big question for me too."

She said, "I don't know. Maybe they don't want my work to continue, maybe they can't accept the improvements I have made for Bangladesh. That's my idea. At one stage, terrorism became a problem for all countries. In our country, we controlled it. Only one incident happened after that. Our law enforcement forces worked hard to control it."

In 2018, 466 people were killed in gun battles with law and order forces before the ban was imposed. In 2019, 388 people were killed in this way and in 2020, 188 people were killed. But after the ban, this number has come down to only 15 people.

In response to this, Sheikh Hasina said, "They could not prove the numbers they mentioned. In most cases, these killings were not done by the law and order forces. Because we wanted evidence, send them, we will investigate."

The Prime Minister also said, "I think sanctions, counter-sanctions are like a game. It is still not clear to me, why they imposed sanctions on our country?"