Bangladesh’s interim President Muhammad Yunus hopes relations with the United States, the largest buyer of Bangladeshi clothing, will strengthen despite strong criticism from President-elect Donald Trump over violence against minorities in the Muslim-majority country.
“Foreign policies usually do not change because of a change in the president,” Yunus said. Hindu In reference to Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections that took place this month.
“It is a very good relationship that we have built over the years with the United States, and we hope that this relationship will be strengthened.”
“I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians and other minorities who are being attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in complete chaos,” Trump said in an X post at the end of October.
India, Bangladesh’s Hindu-majority neighbor, has strong cultural and trade relations with Bangladesh, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has expressed concern about the wave of attacks on Hindus.
The protests in Bangladesh, which began in July as a student movement against public sector job quotas, have escalated into some of the bloodiest unrest since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, killing about 1,500 people, according to interim government estimates.
Yunus was appointed head of the interim government that took charge of Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India in August amid violent protests demanding her ouster.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yunus said reports of atrocities against minorities are mere propaganda.
Yunus said that Hasina has continued her political activities from India and that his interim government is taking legal steps to demand her extradition. Yunus added that India’s refusal could spoil relations between the two neighbors in South Asia.
Describing India and Bangladesh as twins who were “born to be together”, Yunus said he wanted to meet Modi.
“Our dream is to envision a relationship like the European Union (with freedom of movement and trade). This is the direction we want to go.”