Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said Bangladesh must quickly achieve stability in the aftermath of the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, and the people must decide how the country should be run. He said the ousted prime minister should remain in India while the country focuses on returning to normalcy.
“As far as Sheikh Hasina is concerned, many leaders leave their country and go live abroad, if she is out of the country — let her be out of the country. We all want Bangladesh to focus on normalcy,” he told Firstpost in an interview, when asked to comment on demands by Bangladesh for Hasina’s extradition.
On advice to New Delhi and Dhaka to navigate this period of unrest, especially in wake of rising anti-India sentiments among the neighbouring country’s populace, Wickeremesinghe said the priority should be bringing stability and normalcy in Bangladesh.
“First is to get stability into Bangladesh — first give people confidence — as far as Sheikh Hasina is concerned, these are political issues. It has to be decided in such a manner… Many leaders leave their country and go abroad. They then live abroad. What I would give priority to is [to ensure] Bangladesh remains stable,” he was quoted.
Early in August, Hasina was forced to resign and leave Bangladesh after a mass uprising that turned violent. The protests began in July and morphed into a movement against government quota in jobs.
After her 15-year rule came to an end, she has been living in India. Her stay, however, has become a contentious issue between the Centre and the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh.
Yunus and some other leaders have called for her extradition as she faces at least 155 cases — 136 for murder, seven for crimes against humanity and genocide, three for abduction, eight for attempted murder and one for the attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) procession.
Wickremesinghe became the president when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to step down after a popular people’s agitation in July 2022. He took charge as the island nation had been plunged into severe financial crisis. With its bankruptcy officially due to end on Thursday (September 19), Sri Lanka will be voting in its presidential elections on September 21.
He has steered the country’s economy through the IMF bailout and engineered reforms based on recovery by recording positive growth for the first time after six quarters of successive minus growth. He seeks a fresh mandate to carry forward the reforms to consolidate the economy.
But, the president’s rivals have condemned the hardships caused by his recovery effort and vowed to continue with the IMF programme while trying to get the global lender to soften some of the tough conditions.
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