Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a meeting with her political allies has unveiled startling allegations of being offered a smooth re-election in January if she allowed a foreign nation to construct an airbase within Bangladeshi territory . The revelation surfaced during a question and answer session with media. 

While the identity of the country behind the offer remains undisclosed, Sheikh Hasina underscored that it came from a "White man." The 76-year-old leader, governing the strategically situated South Asian nation since 2009, gained her fifth consecutive term in January amidst a one-sided election, marred by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia boycotting the polls.

"If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem," PM Hasina asserted. She iterated her refusal to succumb to such offers, emphasizing her commitment to her father's legacy, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding father.

Sheikh Hasina drew parallels to a previous encounter in 2001 when the US proposed selling the country's gas to India. Recalling her steadfast response, she affirmed her allegiance to the principles of Bangladesh's Liberation War and her aversion to compromising the nation's sovereignty. "I've clearly said that I'm the daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. . . we won our Liberation War, I don't want to come to power by renting part of the country or handing it over to some other country and I don't need power," she said.

PM Hasina said trade and commerce have been going on in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean since ancient times. "Many have their eyes on this place. There is no controversy in this place and no one has conflict in it. I won't let that happen. This is also one of my crimes," she said.

PM Hasina's steadfastness in the face of growing external and internal pressures illustrates her unwillingness to give in to plots designed to undermine her government. She raised concerns, comparing it to the situation in East Timor, about possible attempts to carve off a Christian nation from Bangladesh. "Like East Timor...they will carve out a Christian country, taking parts of Bangladesh (Chattogram) and Myanmar(Rakhine) with a base in the Bay of Bengal," 

The premier's unbreakable resolve evokes memories of her father's tragic assassination in 1975. Sheikh Hasina is resolute and upholds Bangladesh's sovereignty in the face of constant plots, declining to negotiate with nations enforcing sanctions.

Hasina was cited by a prominent leader of the 14-party coalition as stating in a closed-door meeting that the premier further declared that Bangladesh would not buy anything from nations that imposed sanctions on them.

BOB Post