In the interview, Yunus said Bangladesh’s interim government has established several commissions to reform the electoral system, constitution, and judiciary.
Bangladesh interim government’s chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, has accused the Sheikh Hasina regime of destroying “everything” in the country. He pledged to hold general elections only after ushering constitutional and judicial reforms.
“The country’s governance structure has been destroyed during Hasina’s 15-year rule, and a huge task has fallen on us to rebuild it by restoring democracy, economic stability, and public trust,” said the 84-year-old Nobel laureate in an interview with Nikkei Asia, PTI reported. He added that Bangladesh needed comprehensive economic, governance, bureaucracy, and judiciary reforms before holding elections.
Yunus called on India to extradite Hasina once her trial in the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh concludes. Once the trial concludes and a verdict is reached, we will formally request India to hand her over,” Yunus said. He also pointed out that under an international law signed by both countries, “India would be obligated to comply.”
The chief adviser also termed the Indian government’s concern about the safety of Hindus as not being based on facts, describing it as propaganda. Bangladesh summoned the Indian envoy to its Foreign Office on Tuesday as it announced the suspension of consular services at its mission in Tripura’s Agartala, a day after protesters breached the premises.
Relations between the two neighbors had started deteriorating since Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister in August, with India raising concerns over Hindus and other minorities being targeted in Bangladesh and aggravated further with the arrest of the Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das last week.
Das’s bail plea in a sedition case at a Chattogram Court was deferred to January 2 after no lawyer appeared for him, and his supporters later claimed that his advocates were under threat.
