Staff Reporter :
The main opposition party, BNP, has labeled the 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed with India as a new version of slavery.
“The 10 MoUs signed with India during the current illegal government’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi are just a new version of slavery,” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a press conference at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office on Sunday.
BNP Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Nazrul Islam Khan, and Selima Rahman, among others, were present at the press conference.
The BNP demanded the government make public all agreements signed with the neighboring country immediately.
“We demand that all agreements signed with India, including the recent ones, be made public immediately.
We want to reiterate that the people will never accept these agreements against sovereignty, national interest, and national security. BNP rejects all these anti-national deals and MoUs,” Mirza Fakhrul stated.
The party also expressed concern over granting India a rail corridor, allowing it to develop a network of railway tracks through Bangladesh. They argued that this move would be suicidal and go against national interests.
Mirza Fakhrul further stated that they would create public opinion against these anti-national deals and MoUs with the neighboring country.
“This illegal mafia government is providing India with a corridor under the guise of connectivity, to link one part of India to another via railway tracks through Bangladesh. This will jeopardize the sovereignty and national security of Bangladesh,” he said.
“The illegal Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been indulged in a culpable conspiracy to push Bangladesh into a prolonged deep trap of India’s slavery through the MoUs, sacrificing the nation’s independence and sovereignty. Such agreements against national interests will not be accepted by the people,” Fakhrul added.
“Sheikh Hasina, who is running the country without a public mandate, signed the anti-national MoUs as a kickback to India in exchange for an extension of Awami League’s illegitimate grip on state power,” he claimed.
On June 21, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to India on a two-day state visit. On the second day of the visit, Dhaka and New Delhi signed 10 MoUs.
Indian media reports stated that rail tracks would be set up through Bangladesh to connect the Indian Railways to the northeast with the rest of the country, bypassing a 22 km route through the Siliguri Corridor, commonly known as the ‘Chicken’s Neck.
“We must remember the 25 years of slavery treaty with India signed in 1972. Now this AL government has further signed such MoUs, pushing Bangladesh into India’s grip forever. It will jeopardize national security,” the BNP leader concluded.