Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made serious allegations about a plot to establish a Chirstian state like East Timor using parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar and an offer by a white skinned man to help her return to power if she allowed a foreign nation to build an airbase there. India shares its border with Bangladesh and neighbouring country is of strategic importance to it.
Speaking at a meeting with her 14-party alliance at the Gono Bhaban (Prime Minister Residence) in Dhaka, Hasina also revealed that she and the party, the Awami League were offered a smooth re-election to the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) by a white skinned foreigner if she allowed a foreign country to build an airbase in Bangladesh reported a Bangladeshi news media agency.
Like East Timor, they will carve out a Christian country taking parts of Bangladesh (Chittagong) and Myanmar with a base in Bay of Bengal. Hasina said on May 23, 2024. Although she did not specify which country made the offer, she mentioned that it came form a white man and implied that it was part of broader strategy affecting regional forces as well.
“It may appear that it is aimed at one country, but it is not. I know where they intend to go added Hasina, who won a landslide victory with 224 seats in the 300-member house. Any development in Bangladesh is closely watched by India due to its strategic importance. India also has historic ties with its neighbour, which it helped gain independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Hasina also asserted that she would not let anyone harm the trade and commerce in the Bay and the Indian Ocean, which have been thriving since ancient times. Many have their eyes on this place. There is no controversy here, no-conflict, I won’t let that happen. This is also one of my crimes in their eyes, she said. “If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have no problem, Hasina added. Her statements come after the election last winter, which was closely watched by several regional and global stakeholders, like US, China, Russia, and India.
She became the Bangladeshi PM after for the fourth consecutive time after winning the election that was marred by the sporadic violence and boycott by the main opposition party, BNP, led by Khaleda Zia and her allies. The January election in Bangladesh was not just a domestic affair given its geostrategic location in the northeast Indian Ocean. Many in Dhaka believe that the US used the issue of free and fair elections to pressure the Sheikh Hasina government.
“The US has taken an outsized interest in Bangladesh for some time. Bangladesh is not really the part of the US interests-based worldview, but the Awami League under Shiekh Hasina has come under particular criticism from Washington particularly during the elections,” Indrani Bagchi, a foreign policy analyst from the Ananta Aspen Centre said.
The strategic location of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal makes it a critical point of interests for global powers like the US, China and India. Political analysts believe that the US’s interests in ensuring free and fair elections is part of its broader strategy to counter Chinese and Russian influence in the region. Bangladesh’s recent closeness to China is another critical and worrying fact for India. China and India, despite their own rivalries, were reportedly on the same page regarding their support for Hasina and the Awami League in the recent election.
