Won’t lease out St Martin’s Island to hold on to power: PM Hasina

June 21, 2023 3:15 pm

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Awami League does not believe in power which requires compromising the sovereignty of the country and its people.

“I don’t want to return to power by leasing St Martin’s Island,” she said on Wednesday (21 June) while addressing the press about the outcome of her recent visits to Switzerland and Qatar.

“I will not allow anyone to play with the fate of my countryman and use our land to attack others. I am not one of those who will lease our country or St Martin’s Island in order to come to power,” she said, without naming any country.

“We want peace. But we won’t allow anyone to take advantage of our country,” she said.

On Monday, speaking in a discussion on the national budget, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haque Inu, said, “It’s time for us to think about the reason for America’s over-enthusiasm. Is it Democracy or the Saint Martin’s Island?”

Inu, also the former information minister, said it will not be allowed that someone from 20,000 miles away will come and make the country a playground.

Earlier during a debate in parliament on 15 June, president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon was quoted by various media as saying, “The US wants St Martin’s Island, and they also want Bangladesh in the Quad.”

The MP also accused the United States of meddling in Bangladesh’s domestic politics to ensure the downfall of the Sheikh Hasina-led administration in an effort to assert its dominance.

At the press briefing today, the premier further called on the countrymen to evaluate how Bangladesh has changed in the last 14.5 years – in terms of the country’s image, prestige, growth, development, competency and self-sufficiency – instead of paying heed to propaganda.

She said, “I believe in the power of the people. Now they will decide who has the ability to help Bangladesh successfully graduate from a least developed country [LDC] to a developing one by 2026.”

The premier stressed the importance of establishing a foreign policy based on peace and said her government is working to establish bilateral ties with both the East and the West.

“When the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said Bangladesh will be the Switzerland of the East, he meant a country connected with all and known for its neutrality and advocacy in global peacekeeping. Therefore, our foreign policy dictum has been inspired and curated in line with his famous stance “Friendship to all, malice towards none.”