The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina included Bangladesh in the Indian ‘quorum’ through an agreement with India, saying that it is suicidal for Bangladesh to give rail corridor facilities to India.
‘Railway facilities through Bangladesh and similar deals are a threat to the independence of our country,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press conference at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.
He said that the agreements, made under the guise of reconciliation with India, would make Bangladesh a subservient to India for life.
‘As a result, the national security of Bangladesh has been threatened,’ he said, adding that the people will not accept such an agreement which has been involved in the conspiracy of creating a deep trap of India’s slavery agreement for a long time.
Fakhrul termed the recent agreements and understandings between Bangladesh and India as a ‘new version of slavery’.
He said that the agreements of the prime minister’s visit to India are the new version of Awami League’s continuous slavery. ‘The corridors being given in the name of connectivity and rail communication will seriously threaten sovereignty,’ he added.
He said that Bangladesh is being used as India’s security protection zone for geopolitical reasons.
He said that India has been given privileges, which the people will not accept.
Commenting that Bangladesh has turned into India’s market, the BNP leader said that the prime minister’s gratitude to India rather than the interests of Bangladesh is clear to the people.
He said that failure to share Teesta water from India and prank with people is unfortunate for the nation.
Fakhrul thinks that the people of the country will not benefit from the railway agreement to give the corridor to India. ‘Giving rail corridors is suicidal as the issue of Bangladesh-India border is not comparable with Europe,’ he observed.
He said giving a rail corridor to India was a more dangerous surrender.
‘To provide rail transit, the interests of Bangladesh must be protected according to international standards. This rail corridor will not benefit Bangladesh,’ he added.
Fakhrul presumed that the details of the 10 agreements and memorandum of understanding, finalised during Hasina’s visit to India, would not be revealed like previous times.
He said that one cannot be optimistic about getting Indian loan assistance.
‘And encouraging the people of the country to seek treatment in other countries is nothing but destroying the medical system,’ he said.