Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid issued a statement on Sunday accusing Washington of orchestrating the events that led to her abdication last week because of her refusal to hand over control of a strategic island in the Bay of Bengal to the US.
Hasina Resigned Mr McCain, who stepped down as prime minister after 15 years in office, fled the country last Monday after protesters stormed Downing Street. The month-long protests that ended Mr McCain’s term were sparked by long-standing quota laws that reserved a large percentage of key government jobs for people of certain ethnic or political backgrounds.
Men run past a shopping centre that protesters set on fire during a rally against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government and demanding justice for victims killed in recent deadly clashes across the country, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajiv Dar)
Hasina said Her statement on Sunday was originally written as a planned address to the nation before she was relieved of her duties, in which she claimed the US had relieved her of her duties because it had not handed over control of the island of St. Martin, located in the northeastern Bay of Bengal.
St. Martin’s Island Coral Island It is known by locals as Narikel Jinjira, which means “Coconut Island.” Indeed, the island has many coconut trees tended by about 5,500 residents, who earn their living through fishing, algae harvesting, and entertaining tourists. Most of the residents live in shacks without electricity. Large hotels and commercial establishments get their power from individual generators. The total area of the island is less than 2 square miles.
Bangladesh and its neighbor, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Discuss Since Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971, the two countries have been fighting over sovereignty over St. Martin and the surrounding waters.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) confirmed the island as Bangladeshi territory in a landmark ruling in 2012. Myanmar sparked a brief diplomatic crisis in 2018 when it published a map that showed St. Martin as part of its territory. Myanmar’s foreign ministry apologized and said the map was a “mistake.”
People take part in a protest against Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 3, 2024, demanding justice for victims killed in recent deadly clashes across the country. (AP Photo/Rajiv Dar)
In recent years, rebels opposed to the Myanmar military junta have attempted to use St. Maarten as a base of operations, and fierce fighting has been ongoing with military forces in coastal areas near the island. Bangladesh patrols the waters between the island and the mainland to ensure that Burmese rebels do not attempt to seize the island and to prevent the Myanmar Navy, which has been deployed to counter the rebels, from entering Bangladeshi territorial waters.
Hasina first mentioned the US plan to buy the island in June 2023, when she claimed that her arch rival, Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was secretly planning to sell St. Maarten to the US to build a military base there.
“If we had handed over St. Martin and the Bay of Bengal to the US, I would have been able to remain in power,” Hasina said on Sunday.
Successive US administrations Denied They have had some kind of plan for the island for the past 20 years. Strategic Advantage The small island is located near the Straits of Malacca, through which a large number of Chinese vessels pass.
China help Bangladesh will build a multi-billion-dollar dry dock facility in Cox’s Bazar, a popular tourist destination with the world’s longest uninterrupted natural beach. Chinese officials attended a ceremony in March when Prime Minister Hasina inaugurated the dry dock, which will be large enough to simultaneously service six submarines and eight warships.
People take part in a protest against Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 3, 2024, demanding justice for victims killed in recent deadly clashes across the country. (AP Photo/Rajiv Dar)
Bangladesh already operates two Chinese-made submarines from a submarine base in Cox’s Bazar named after Sheikh Hasina. A U.S. military base on St. Maarten would undoubtedly help monitor Chinese military activity in Bangladeshi ports, but in June the Biden administration became the latest U.S. government to deny that it had ever attempted to buy the island or lease the territory for military purposes.
“We are not engaged in any discussions about the occupation of St. Maarten. We value our partnership with Bangladesh and seek to strengthen our relationship by working together to advance democracy, including supporting free and fair elections,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. said In June, Prime Minister Hasina recently accused the BNP of holding secret negotiations to sell territory to the US.
Ahead of her re-election in January elections, Hasina Claimed She was secretly approached by “white men” offering her a guarantee of remaining in her post if she agreed to lease St. Martin to the U.S. military.
In a statement on Sunday, Hasina essentially accused the United States of fomenting a revolution against her in an attempt to install someone as prime minister more amenable to Washington’s ambitions. She said the US’s ultimate aim was to seize territory from both Bangladesh and Myanmar to build a new “Christian state”.
Hasina, like most Bangladeshis, is Muslim but has had friendly relations with Hindu-majority India. Bangladeshi Muslim mobs attack Hindu protests have continued since Hasina resigned, with many seeking refuge in India. Indian intelligence last week accused China of orchestrating the protests to oust Hasina and push Bangladesh out of India’s sphere of influence.
Hasina ended her comments on Sunday by apologizing for her derogatory remarks about the student protesters and promising that her departure from Bangladesh would be temporary. She, incidentally, used more than harsh words against the student protesters. Fired Her administration was denounced as a “murderous government” after around 300 people were killed during protests.
