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Hasina is now in London for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral to be held today. The UK’s longest-reigning monarch died on September 8 at the age of 96.
“Many people can make allegations but how true it is, you have to judge. Before that, no one should make any comments,” Hasina told the BBC in reply to a question about the UN speaking about allegations of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh.
Asked if she would crack down on groups accused of forcibly disappearing people, the PM replied, “Okay, how many people disappear in your country and other countries, you can judge. I think first you have to take all the information … you collect it, then [you] can accuse.”
The interviewer asked her if she would commit to free and fair elections, which the queen’s high commissioner had called upon her government to do, Hasina said military rulers ruled the country in the past.
“They formed parties, they never went to the people and ask for votes. They used the army, used administration, used everything just to remain in power.
“Only during Awami League’s time you can see free and fair elections,” Hasina said in her interview that lasted six minutes and 30 seconds.
She said military strongmen ruled the country for a long time, “directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly”. Since killing of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other family members in 1975, there were several coup d’états and there were also at least 20 coup attempts and there was bloodshed too, she said.
“There was no democracy and no democratic right. I struggled for establishing democracy,” Hasina said.
“...It is my struggle to establish a democratic system and ensure free and fair elections,” she said.
Describing her personal memories with the queen, Hasina recalled that she and her family members went to her father’s office and stood by a window with binoculars so that they could see the queen during her visit to erstwhile East Pakistan in 1961.
Hasina said she met the queen several times after becoming prime minister. The PM said she attended seven Commonwealth summits. “Every time I had the opportunity to talk with her. During the Olympic games she invited [me], I came here … The queen had a wonderful memory. Even in the Commonwealth summit, if she [the queen] didn’t see me, she would enquire ‘where is Hasina?’” she recalled.
Hasina said the queen was not only the queen of the United Kingdom, she was also the leader of the Commonwealth. So, the monarch had great value to Bangladesh, a member of Commonwealth countries.
“She was the queen for about 70 years … I feel in this world she was not only a queen but also a very affectionate motherly personality. Whenever I met with her, I felt that,” Hasina said.
While talking about the importance of the Commonwealth for Bangladesh, the PM said there are many opportunities when Commonwealth countries are together.
“We have one place [the Commonwealth] where we can exchange our views, adopt some ideas, or deliver some good for the country and people.”
She said that in an interdependent world, no country can exist in isolation. “So, under these circumstances, Commonwealth means a lot for the member countries. If the countries work together, we can support the downtrodden people.”
CHARLES III THANKS HASINA
Britain’s King Charles III has expressed his gratitude to Hasina for attending the funeral of the queen, to be held today.
In a phone call from the Buckingham Palace yesterday evening, the king also thanked the Bangladesh president, the PM and the people for their condolences and sympathies to the royal family following the queen’s death.
During the call, Hasina said, “Her late Majesty was like a mother figure to me and an extraordinary head of the Commonwealth…
“To pay my personal tribute to her, I decided to attend her state funeral.”
The PM also told the king that her government observed three days of state mourning in Bangladesh as a mark of respect to the late queen.
She also felicitated King Charles III on his accession to the throne and wished him a long and prosperous reign.
Recalling Charles’s Bangladesh visit in 1997, the PM told him that Bangladesh was preparing to receive him and the queen consort in the coming month on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh-UK diplomatic relations.
In response, King Charles III said, “The queen consort and I were so much looking forward to our visit to Bangladesh on the 50th anniversary. However, due to the recent turn of events, unfortunately we are having to cancel it.”
The king also extended his best wishes to the people of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh-British diaspora.
The Buckingham Palace scheduled the phone call for the new king to speak to the Bangladesh PM now on a state visit to the UK.
Hasina yesterday paid her last respects to the Queen Elizabeth II at her lying-in-state at the Westminster Hall and signed a book of condolence at the Lancaster House.
Briefing journalists, Saida Muna Tasneem, Bangladesh high commissioner to the UK, said the PM, accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, went to the Palace of Westminster in the morning to pay last respects to the queen.
Hasina there observed one-minute silence as a mark of respect to the late queen at the Westminster Hall where the body of Elizabeth II was kept lying in state.
On her arrival at the Westminster, a representative of the British Speaker received the Bangladesh premier and her younger sister.
Later, they were taken to the Lancaster House where a condolence book was kept.
Hasina wrote her condolence message in Bangla. “I am expressing deep condolence on behalf of the people of Bangladesh, my family and my younger sister Sheikh Rehana,” she wrote.
Later, the PM was taken to another room where she talked about the late queen in front of the camera and paid tribute to her.
Mentioning that she had met the Queen Elizabeth II eight or nine times, Hasina said, “She was a motherly figure to me, I lost someone like my mother.
“… it seems a guardian is gone…,” she added.