The chief adviser of the illegal interim government, Muhammad Yunus, went to Japan to beg for financial assistance despite releasing all the militants responsible for the Holey Artisan Bakery attack, where seven Japanese engineers were brutally killed in 2016, said Awami League President and five-time prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who had signed a $6 billion line of credit in 2014.
Japan has built the metro rail, the Matarbari power plant, and the third terminal of the Dhaka airport. Japan is also working on the deep-seaport in Matarbari.
Speaking at a virtual program recently, she said: โWe gave them land in Dhaka’s Araihajar to build an economic zone. They are setting up economic zones in Chittagong and Sabrang of Cox’s Bazar. Japan will build a modern sea beach for foreigners. Japan is developing ecotourism on Sonadia Island.
โWe have had a strong relationship with Japan, and they have invested extensively here under the Big-B program.
โThe works that are underway now were planned by the Awami League government. Some of the projects have been completed. But Yunus claims that he dreamed of those projects. When did he dream of these projects?โ
Strategic partnership since 2023
On April 27, 2023, Bangladesh and Japan celebrated the elevation of the bilateral relations to a “Strategic Partnership” from “Comprehensive Partnership.”
“Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and I have discussed today the entire gamut of our bilateral relations. We are happy that Bangladesh and Japan have successfully elevated the bilateral relations to a โStrategic Partnershipโ,โ she said in a joint statement with her Japanese counterpart at the Prime Minister’s Office in Dhaka.
โI am confident that the excellent understanding, friendship and cooperation that exist between our two peoples and our governments will grow even stronger in the years ahead. Our two sides have signed agreements and memorandums that will further institutionalise our future cooperation in the areas of agriculture, customs matters, defense, ICT and cybersecurity, industrial upgrading, intellectual property, ship recycling, and metro rail,” she said.
During the bilateral talks, the two sides discussed the Rohingya issue alongside the MIDI (Moheshkhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development Initiative) and the BIG-B initiative (The Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt) and economic partnership.
Development in southern districts
Sheikh Hasina said that Yunus captured power by terrorism and robbery. In the same way, he is taking credit for the work undertaken during the Awami League tenure.
She said that her government undertook the Sandwip ferry service, but Yunusโ illegal government claimed that they completed it in 3-4 months.
She questioned whether Yunus knew how much it takes to build a pontoon for sea-going ferries. โBut seven advisers went to inaugurate my project with seven scissors and cut a ribbon into seven pieces to inaugurate it.โ
Sheikh Hasina said that the countryโs longest railway bridge over the Jamuna River was also initiated by her government.
She said that apart from the Padma Bridge, other road bridges at Shikarpur, Dowarika, Gabkhan, Kirtankhola, and Payra were built by the Awami League.
โWe have built roads one by one. The railway line from Bhanga will go through Barisal and Jhalakathi to the Mongla Port.
โAlready, the railway line from Dhaka to Jessore via Faridpur has been opened. It goes all the way to Mongla Port.
โWe had also planned a six-lane highway that would go from Dhaka to Mongla Port via Barisal. I made every plan myself. I could not start all the work. But everything was scheduled to start.โ
Sheikh Hasina said that Yunus stole credit for all the work that she had done and claimed to have dreamt about the projects. โHe has a loudspeaker [press secretary Shafiqul Alam] who spreads lies to improve the image of the illegal government at home and abroad.โ
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