India should extend unambiguous support to the democratic aspirations of the people of Bangladesh, a top leader of the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said here on Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, a member of the BNP’s standing committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, reiterated his party’s decision to boycott the upcoming election in Bangladesh if it was held without a neutral caretaker government, and accused his country’s government agencies of being behind the violence that rocked Dhaka on October 28, and prompted a crackdown against the Opposition by the Awami League government
“India should support the people of Bangladesh in the same way that it supported us in 1971. Today, the people of Bangladesh are living without their right to a transparent election. As a citizen of my country, I hope India will not stay silent in the face of erosion of democracy in Bangladesh,” Mr. Mahmud said, adding, “So far, we have not seen any comment from India which can prompt Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to have a free and fair election.”
