The caretaker government’s foreign policy adviser, Md Touhid Hossain, said on Sunday that his ministry would take care of the repatriation of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India if and when the Law Ministry makes a request to do so.
He said it was a legal matter that fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice.
“This is a matter for the Ministry of Justice and we will only take action if we receive a request from that ministry,” said Touhid, also a retired diplomat, in response to a question during an initial exchange of views with journalists at the Foreign Ministry.
He was asked if they would send a message to India to send Hasina home so that she could be tried for killing people during anti-discrimination protests by students.
Regarding the foreign policy of the newly formed government, he said that its goal is to protect the country’s interests by maintaining relations with other countries.
When asked about the public perception that Bangladesh’s interests were not being protected in relations with India, he said it was important that people felt that India was a good friend of Bangladesh and that they would work towards this goal.
Touhid said people had high expectations of the transitional government formed through a “revolution.”
“We are only doing basic tasks now. Our first and most important task is to restore stability and then carry out some reforms,” he said, adding that they would bring justice for every single murder during the student protests.
Asked about the number of victims of the violence against the student-led mass protests, he said there was a list of about 450 people killed during the violence and some of the injured were still in critical condition.
Awami League President Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister on August 5 amid a mass student-led uprising and fled to India, ending her 15-year rule.
Later on August 8, the interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel Prize winner Professor Mohammad Yunus.
Touhid, who previously served as foreign minister, said they would brief foreign diplomats in Dhaka on the situation today.
When asked about the scenario of violence presented by the Awami League-led government to foreign diplomats, he said this scenario had changed with the change of government.
Regarding the government’s term in office, he said it would take some time to stabilize the situation, then some reforms would be implemented before free and fair elections could be initiated.
“The main objective of the transitional government is to hold free and fair elections. Let us not speculate at this stage,” he said, adding that transparency and honesty would be ensured at every step.
Responding to a question, he said that they believed in balanced relationships and wanted to maintain smooth and good relations with everyone.
He said that so far there has been positive support from international partners and that the concerns previously raised are their concerns.
Regarding the attacks on minorities, the adviser said that Chief Advisor Professor Yunus will immediately meet with all representatives of the minority communities as they are against any such attacks on anyone’s religious beliefs or political ideology.
He hopes that public order will improve significantly within a week.
A minute’s silence was observed before the exchange of views began. Foreign Minister Masud Bin Momen moderated the event.
