Foreign affairs adviser to the interim government, Md Touhid Hossain, on Sunday said that his ministry would act as regards to a move for bringing back deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina from India if and when the law ministry would make such a request.
He said that it was a legal matter that lies under the jurisdiction of the law ministry.
鈥業t鈥檚 the matter of the law ministry and only if we receive any such request from the ministry will we act,鈥� Touhid, also a retired diplomat, said, responding to聽 a question during a maiden views exchange with journalists at the foreign ministry.
He was asked whether they would give any message to India to send Hasina back home so that she could be brought to justice for killing people during the anti-discrimination student protests.
About the newly formed government foreign policy, he said that their foreign policy would be to protect the country鈥檚 interests in maintaining relations with other countries.
Asked about the public perception that Bangladesh鈥檚 interests were not protected in its relations with India, he said that it was important that people feel India was a good friend of Bangladesh and they would work to that end.
Touhid said that people had many expectations from the interim government formed through a 鈥榬evolution鈥�.聽
鈥榃e are now just doing primary jobs. Our first and foremost duty is to bring back stability and then make some reforms,鈥� he said, adding that they would ensure justice for each and every killing during the student protests.聽聽
Asked about the number casualties in the violence against the student-led mass protests, he said they had a list of around 450 people killed during the violence as some of the injured were still in critical conditions.
Awami League president Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India on August 5 amid a mass uprising spearheaded by student protesters, bringing an end to her 15-year long regime.
Later on August 8, the interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus was formed.
Touhid, who earlier served as a foreign secretary, said that they would brief foreign diplomats in Dhaka about the situation today.
Asked about the narrative of violence presented by the Awami League-led government before the foreign diplomats, he said that the narrative changed with the change in the government.聽
About the tenure of the government, he said that they would need some time to stabilise the situation and then they would do some reform work before taking a move for free and fair elections.
鈥楾he interim government鈥檚 main objective is to hold a free and fair election. Let鈥檚 not speculate anything at this stage,鈥� he said, adding that transparency and honesty would be ensured in each step.
Responding to a question, he said that they believed balanced relations and wanted to keep smooth and good relations with all.
He said that there was positive support so far from the international partners and the concerns they had expressed earlier were their concerns.
About the attacks on minorities, the adviser said that chief adviser Professor Yunus would sit with all representatives of the minority communities soon as they were against any such attacks on anyone鈥檚 religious belief or political ideology.
He hoped that the law and order situation would significantly improve within a week.
One-minute silence was observed before the views-exchange meeting began. Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen moderated the event.
