View attachment 390866
View attachment 390867
View attachment 390870
Bangladesh enters into India’s military plan: Khaleda
Special Correspondent
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday claimed that her party, when it was in power, signed a defence agreement with China as per the demand of the country’s Armed Forces after discussions with them.
She came up with the remark at a press conference at her Gulshan office. The news conference was arranged to brief the media on the country’s latest political situation and the Prime Minister’s recent India tour.
As her attention was drawn to the Prime Minister’s comment that what is the problem with inking defence MoUs with India while the BNP-led government had signed a defence deal with China earlier, Khaleda said, “Why should we procure arms from a country (India) which import arms from other countries. They (India) can’t produce high quality and sophisticated arms.”
Khaleda further said, “We’d inked a deal with China as our armed forces are used to use Chinese arms. Before signing the MoU, we’d talked to the armed forces and taken their opinions that whether the agreement should be signed it and what kind of arms should be procured.”
She also said her government did not import any outdated arms from China. “We procured all modern and time worthy arms from China, which exports arms to many countries.”
The BNP chief voiced concern over the defence MoUs signed with India saying the Prime Minister has made Bangladesh part of Indi’s military plan through it.
Khaleda said the government has signed defence MoUs ignoring public opinion and the oppositions by the political parties. “We’re worried like people that there could be a long-term negative impact on it.
Replying to a question, she said her party will review all the anti-state deals and MoUs if it is voted to power.
The BNP chief claimed that her party never used the armed forces to make political gains, but Awami League did it repeatedly. “They (AL) had mandatorily included the armed forces members in the only political party Baksal (in 1975). They’d also openly supported military took over led by General Ershad, Moyeen and Nasim.”
She also claimed that it was BNP founder Ziaur Rahman who ensured the armed forces’ dignity and gave it an institutional shape.
Khaleda said her party has no rivalry with India as it always remembers with gratitude the assistance of the neighbouring country to liberate the Bangladesh in 1971.
She said her party wants to cooperate with India for the development of the two countries and resolve all the outstanding problems through discussions. “We want to live in peace alongside the people of India maintaining mutual assistance.”
Khaleda, however, said the people of Bangladesh are annoyed with India due to its previous government’s unilateral role in disturbing democracy here.
“We hope the current Indian government will show respect for the sentiment of Bangladesh’s democracy-loving people coming out of the mistake of the previous government,” she added.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia sat in a meeting with top leaders of the 20-party alliance and discussed the Prime Minister’s India visit and worked out the alliance’s next course of action.
The two-hour meeting that began at 7pm was held at the BNP chief’s Gulshan office.
On Monday night, Khaleda had a meeting with the BNP standing committee members, and mainly discussed the deals Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signed with India on Saturday.