The hard line Jamaat-e-Islami has attacked Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her Cabinet ‘s decision allowing India to use Chittagong and Mongla ports.
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“Why should Bangladesh give such concessions to India when it’s government is excluding millions of Muslims from citizenship in Assam and so many Muslims all over the country are being killed,” said Jamaat secretary general Shafiqur Rahman.
He told a press conference in Dhaka that Indian leaders are also threatening to invade Bangladesh on ‘flimsy issues’.
“When India is showing such hostility, why should our government make such profound concessions,” the Jamaat leader said.
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The Jamaat sided with Pakistan occupation forces during the 1971 liberation war but were rehabilitated in Bangladesh politics by the late military ruler Ziaur Rahman.
It remains an ally of Bangladesh Nationalist Party that Zia founded and that is led by his wife Khaleda.
BNP has sought Indian support for what it describes as restoration of democracy in Bangladesh but threatened to review all agreements signed with India by the Hasina government.
Both BNP and Jamaat rubbish Hasina as an Indian stooge.
The Jamaat leader was referring to BJP MP Subramaniam Swamy’ s recent threat to conquer Bangladesh if attacks against Hindus did not stop.
This tirade beginning with BJP president Amit Shah’s description of Bangladeshi infiltrators as ‘termites’ has been lapped up by Hasina’s Islamist opposition to question all major concessions made by her government during its nearly a decade in power.
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The ruling Awami League has sought to play down these hostile rhetoric as not part of the official pronouncements of the Indian government which has promised to ensure no adverse fallout of the NRC exercise on Bangladesh.