And to take this conversation further, we are being joined by former ambassador Veena Sikri from New Delhi. She is the former Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh. She also held various positions at Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh and Malaysia and other prestigious positions.
Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us here on VeeOn. Good to see you. Good to see you.
Thanks. Thanks for having me on your show. Absolutely, the pleasure is mutual.
You must have seen the visual of Muhammad Yunus meeting the former U.S. President Bill Clinton. What are your thoughts?
Well, I think that, as you said, the 40-year-old connection between the former President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative, between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, these are very, very well known. And it has always been known also that even Muhammad Yunus'Nobel Peace Prize was the result of a lot of support given to him by the Clinton family. I think that's the point that has drawn the attention of everyone who has seen those visuals, was the statement.
made by Muhammad Yunus himself. And when he, all this while, right from early August or even late July, Muhammad Yunus had been saying again and again and again that this was a completely spontaneous movement and the students had spontaneously revolted against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and they wanted a new Bangladesh and spontaneously they chose him. But now what he has said in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative. says that this was meticulously planned.
Every step of it was planned. And he said clearly, don't think it happened by itself. And he thanked former President Bill Clinton for his support. So I think this sequence of events in New York, and he also brought on stage two or three of his...
who he says were his supporters, the students'representatives. And these are the people clearly with whom it was all planned. And he said that these are the people planning it and they were ordinary people.
So they looked ordinary. They would not be distinguished, etc. Now, this gives us a lot of question because it has further reinforced the feeling that is there throughout Bangladesh that the events of August 5th and the entire students'demonstrations leading to the outstop former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was planned with the support of the U.S.
This is... is being talked about and written about in Bangladesh. And now the question arises that what is it that had been planned? Because, as you yourself said, what is really the force behind the throne, behind Professor Muhammad Yunus, is the Jamaat-e-Islami. The Jamaat-e-Islami, as you know, is the political party that was against the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. They were one...
They shared the same view, the same platform with the government of Pakistan at the time and they still share the same platform with the government of Pakistan. You know, the links are very clear. So the channel through which the Jamaat-e-Islami support was with the Bangladesh Army, which is now a highly Islamized organization. So now the question arises, what is it that the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami, what is it that the change they're trying to bring in Bangladesh? Yes, they're trying to bring the...
Islamic forces together, that's one. Number two, their long-standing alliance with the Bangladesh National Party, which is the second political force in Bangladesh after the Awami League, that long-standing alliance seems to have broken apart now and the BNP is on its own. So this is a very, very important factor.
And what will the Awami League itself be doing? Are the people there thinking of what they're going to be doing because on the one hand these the abami league and anybody who had to do with the family are being accused of being murderers on the other hand murderers who are in jail and have been committed to jail because of their participation in killing of bloggers in various illegal activities in Bangladesh connected with extremism and fundamentalism and even some activities in India connected to the activities of fundamentalism. Those are people are being let out of jail without any legal process so it is a very very complex situation in Bangladesh that is in And I'm sure that all of us in India are carefully watching the situation and also writing about it. Absolutely. And Ambassador, if I could take your point a little further, we are also getting reports of tensions rising for the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh.
And this is. is as the biggest festival you must be knowing Durga Purja is just approaching there are groups that are opposing the open celebration of the festival do you think that Muhammad Yunus is creating a space where fundamentalists could thrive You know, absolutely, you're absolutely right, because right from 5th of August itself, the attacks on the minorities have been one of the biggest and most long-lasting. They include rapes and killings and torture and burnings of homes. Grabbing of properties.
Then after that, when there was a huge furore about this and our Prime Minister even spoke to President Joe Biden about it, after that it has converted into attacks on the economic livelihoods of the minorities, you know, taking away their jobs, forcing teachers to resign, forcing professors to resign. And over the weekend, just four or five days ago, we saw attacks on the Buddhist minorities in Khabrachari, in the Chittagong Hill Tracks. And there...
properties are being looted, their economic activities are being impeded, their businesses are being taken over. The Bishop of Dhaka has spoken about attacks on the Christian minorities in Bangladesh. So I think this is a tremendous, this is obviously being orchestrated clearly by the Jamaat-e-Islami. Now, President Muhammad Yunus has so far dismissed this as saying, oh, these are people who supported the avant-guide.
There's nothing communal about it. But I think the intensity of the attacks and the way that the people are being forced are being told, here, take the money and leave the country. Leave your property, here's the money, leave the country.
This is causing a lot of unrest among the people there because they have demonstrated. There have been demonstrations in Bangladesh more than one occasion by the minority groups saying, we are staying, this is our land. We may be a minority, but we are going to stay, we want our rights. So I think this tension is very much building up and it's a matter of great concern to people in India.
And, you know, we really don't know about based on all these kinds of activities, that what is it that the government of Bangladesh, led by Muhammad Yunus, is looking at? Because does Muhammad Yunus know that the attacks are continuing? Does he know that outside Dhaka there's complete anarchy in Bangladesh? The army has been called in.
The army has been given executive magistracy powers. The army has been given police powers. Army officers have even lost their lives. in the last two days because they've been trying to stop illegal activities, but they have been shot dead.
So I think the concern in Bangladesh and all the people who are watching the scene in Bangladesh is this complete anarchic situation and it's not coming under control. So what happens to economic activity in Bangladesh? This economy, which for the last 15 years has been growing at between 6% and even 8%, is now threatening to face a major collapse.
Alright, alright Ambassador Sikri, I'm completely out of time but thank you so much for those insights. It was good to speak to you. Thank you.