“Sovereignty Over Strategy: Declining External Election Advice”

Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain stated that if India does not wish to restrain Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has no power to stop her. “We have to understand this. We want India to restrain her so that the environment we are creating for the election is not hampered by the incendiary remarks she is making,” he said.

He made these comments on Wednesday (December 17) while responding to questions from journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Adviser remarked, “If they [India] do that, we will view it as a positive step. If they don’t, I cannot force them.”

On India’s ‘Advice’ regarding Elections Regarding the latest statement from India, the Adviser said, “In the most recent statement from India, some ‘advice’ (nasihat) was given to us. I don’t believe there is any need for this. We did not seek advice from our neighbors on what elections in Bangladesh should be like.”

He continued, “From day one, this government has clearly stated that it wants to create an environment where people can go to the polling centers and vote—an environment that did not exist for the past 15 years. Now, India is advising us on this. I find this completely unacceptable because they know that during the last 15 years, the government with whom they had extremely ‘sweet’ relations held farcical elections, yet they did not utter a single word then. Now that we are moving toward a good election, there is no need to offer us advice.”

He added, “We know what we are doing. We will hold a good election where people can vote and those who receive the votes will be elected—something that hasn’t happened in 15 years. So, this [advice] is entirely unacceptable to us.”

On Hasnat Abdullah’s Comments and Diplomatic Tensions Regarding India’s reaction to statements made by Hasnat Abdullah, the Foreign Adviser asked, “First of all, is Hasnat a part of the government? He is not. If it were a government statement, either I would have said it or it would have come from the highest office of the government. Therefore, this is largely irrelevant.”

Discussing the summoning of High Commissioners, he said, “We summoned their High Commissioner regarding the issue of Sheikh Hasina. They did not accept what we told them, or they had some disagreements. Similarly, they summoned our High Commissioner. This is not unexpected; usually, when one side summons, the other follows suit.”

On Bangladesh-India Relations When asked if the relationship has entered a new phase, Hossain said, “It’s hard to say. We should accept the reality that there has been tension from the beginning of this government until today. Acknowledging this tension, we have always said we want a ‘good working relationship.’ But just because we want it doesn’t mean it will happen. Efforts must come from both sides.”

He concluded, “I think both sides together haven’t been able to move forward much, which is why the tension persists. Recently, we have had objections to certain issues, and they have their own positions. We have seen that Sheikh Hasina, while in India, was previously only speaking on social media, but now her statements are appearing in mainstream media and contain significant provocation. A person convicted by a court here is trying to create instability from a neighboring country. It is only natural that we would object or seek their assistance in extraditing her. However, they have not moved in that direction.”