Hasina asylum hit India ties: Yunus

Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has blamed India’s support for Sheikh Hasina for straining bilateral ties, claiming the deposed former Prime Minister was responsible for the killing of young protesters during the Dhaka unrest.

“We have problems with India right now because they didn’t like what the students have done. And they are hosting Hasina, who created all this problem and killed the young people. That creates a lot of tension between India and Bangladesh. Also, lots of fake news on all kinds of propaganda is coming from the other side,” Yunus said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

On the regional front, Yunus stressed the need to revive the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), calling it a “wonderful idea” that was allowed to wither due to political differences among member states.

He said the grouping should function like the European Union, allowing free movement of people and businesses across South Asia. “It's like the European Union. That was a kind of image in which the SAARC was built. But somehow, one of our neighbours didn't like that framework. So, it became almost a dead organisation," Yunus said, without naming any country.

As an alternative, Yunus floated the possibility of Bangladesh joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), noting that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had expressed support for the idea. "ASEAN would be a good place to go. So, we want to build it up--regional harmony and regional interconnectivity," he said, while admitting that Myanmar’s opposition over the Rohingya issue remained an obstacle.

He also highlighted the economic opportunities of greater regional integration, suggesting that Bangladesh could serve as a gateway to the Bay of Bengal for Nepal, Bhutan and India’s landlocked north-eastern states. “If you can’t do the whole SAARC, then we can have a mini-SAARC of our own in a business deal, not political or any formal treaty,” he said.

Yunus underlined that a broader regional economy, rather than narrow national boundaries, would ensure mutual benefits. He said Bangladesh was open to partnerships that could connect South Asia and Southeast Asia.