USA must lay off Bangladesh : No base can be permitted there to any foreign power

A few months before Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and was made to leave the country after a coup which eventually replaced her government with an interim one, she has given the real reason that she was offered a hassle-free re-election in the January 7 polls if she allowed a foreign country to build an air base inside the country.

“If I allowed a certain country to build an air base in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem,” Daily Star Bangladesh had quoted Hasina as saying. She, however, did not name the country that had made the offer to her but emphasised that the “offer came from a white man”.

When asked about her response to the offer, the PM said she gave the same reply as she did in 2001 when the US offered to sell the country’s gas to India. “I’ve clearly said that I’m the daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman… we won our Liberation War, I don’t want to come to power by renting part of the country or handing it over to some other country and I don’t need power,” she said.

At that time, many thought Hasina was talking of the United States. The sudden coup led any to believe that the US orchestrated toppling of Hasina’s elected government and replacing it with one by people of its liking. Hasina has had troubled relations with it for quite some time now. The US, the biggest buyer of Bangladesh’s exports, had become more vocal in its calls for a free and fair election, imposing visa curbs on several members of Hasina’s ruling party and military officials in September.

After moving to India, Hasina again claimed the US played a role in her ouster. “I could have stayed in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to dominate the Bay of Bengal,” she said.

The US, however, has rejected the allegations of its involvement in the Bangladesh crisis, including the protests in the country that led to the deaths of hundreds of people. Refuting all the reports and rumours, the White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean Pierre, said in a media briefing a week after the coup, “So, we have had no involvement at all. Any, reports or rumours that the United States government was involved in these, in these events is simply, simply false. That is not true.”

“This is a choice for and by the Bangladeshi people. We believe that the Bangladeshi people should determine the future of the Bangladeshi government, and that’s where we stand. Any allegations, certainly we will continue to say, and what I have said here is simply untrue,” Jean Pierre said.

Mr Jean Pierere must behold in no uncertain terms that Bangladesh people have a choice but they cannot and will not be permitted to commit atrocities against the minority Hindu and Christian Community.

Also it has no choice in leasing out any military base to any foreign country..not even the USA. Just as USA did not permit Russia to have a base in Cuba in 1962, Russia has gone to war to prevent Ukraine joining NATO, in a similar manner India just cannot permit any foreign country to have a base in Bangladesh …period.

The US may have had no role to play in the coup against Hasina and forming an interim government, but the new Govt in Bangladesh must be aware that they cannot cross the LAKSHMAN REKHA as far as India is concerned. To defend its national interest India is fully committed.

In June last year, Hasina alleged that the US had intended to acquire St Martin’s Island to build a military base in exchange for opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s electoral victory. She claimed that the BNP, if brought to power, would sell the island to the US, a step she vowed never to allow while in office…..Well if this happens that even India may have to enact the 1971 scenario.