Jatiya Party chairman Ghulam Muhammed Quader has said that he speaks to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina occasionally and that she wants to return to Bangladesh, but the government is not allowing her to do so.
‘I speak to Sheikh Hasina. We talk occasionally. She is talking to everyone,’ Quader said in a YouTube podcast aired on Thursday.
GM Quader’s personal assistant Layes Ahmed confirmed to the media about the authenticity of the video clip.
‘Sheikh Hasina says she wants to return. But they [the Bangladesh government] are not allowing her to come back. They are afraid of her popularity,’ the Jatiya Party chairman said in the podcast.
Quader said that his party was unable to carry out its regular political programmes, alleging that police had threatened party activists when they sought to protest against fuel price hikes.
‘When we want to bring out a protest procession against the fuel price hike, the police tell us that we cannot leave our office,’ he said, adding that police threatened them of incoming attacks if they came out.
Financial Mirror/AH
