Free, fair polls only held under Awami League, PM tells BBC

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in an exclusive interview with the BBC during her stay in the UK to pay respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II told that she herself struggled for establishing the democratic process and free fair election in Bangladesh and free and fair election was only held during the Awami League regime.

“Of course, it is my struggle to establish democratic system and free fair election.—only during the Awami League time you can see free fair election,” she said while replying to a question regarding her government’s commitment to make the next election be free and fair by BBC journalist Laura Kunessberg, reports BSS.

During the interview that was aired on Sunday, the Prime Minister said that many people can lodge complaints about disappearances, but you have to judge how true it is.

The Prime Minister told the BBC that her country had military rulers for a long time, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly.

“In 1975, my father (Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) was assassinated. He was the then president of the country and you know that my entire family, my mother, my three brothers, two sisters in -laws, other family members, and a total of 18 members were brutally murdered” she said.

Since then for 21 years, she said the country had witnessed coups time and again, adding that there were attempts of coups for around 20 times and every time there was bloodshed. “There was no democracy, no democratic rights, so I struggled to establish democracy in my country,” she said.