New Delhi: Ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, on Wednesday warned that the country had "become another Pakistan", adding that the "development should be a matter of concern for India".
Speaking virtually from Maryland in the United States during an address at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in New Delhi on Wednesday, the senior Awami League leader claimed that foreign intelligence agencies, particularly Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), now operate with what he called "an open hand" in the country.
"What should concern India most is that Bangladesh has become another Pakistan on India's eastern side. You have another Pakistan today on your eastern front... al-Qaeda operatives are speaking at public rallies. This is what is happening in Bangladesh, and this does not portend well for India or the world at large," he said.
Warning over future terrorism
"In the future, the next generation of global terrorists is going to come from Bangladesh unless this is stopped," he added.
The remarks come around six months after Bangladesh's parliamentary elections, in which the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, won a decisive majority and formed a government after the end of Muhammad Yunus's interim administration.
Questions over political process
Yunus's caretaker government had banned the Awami League from political activity and barred it from contesting the election. It remains excluded from the political process, a point Joy raised repeatedly to argue that the vote could not be considered fully representative.
Hasina's first public address
Hasina on Wednesday delivered her first public address since being ousted from power and leaving the country in 2024, accusing the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus of orchestrating a carefully planned campaign to remove her government.
Beginning her speech on an emotional note, Hasina paid tribute to her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the martyrs of Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War, and members of her family who were killed in the 1975 massacre. At several points during her address, her voice faltered as she recalled the tragedy.
