US will have to pay for its ‘double standard’: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the US will someday have to pay for what she said was its double standard.

“They keep talking about one thing or another. People were burnt in our country. They talked a lot about elections and terrorism. When they were asked about the train set ablaze by the BNP, they were mum. They did not say a word.

“They have always been picking on me but that does not matter. The strength of the people is the greatest,” she said in response to a question during an episode of the show “Let’s Talk” organised by the Centre for Research and Information (CRI), the ruling Awami League’s research wing.

Taped on December 22, the show was aired by Ekattor TV, News24 TV, and Somoy TV last night.

Claiming that she was not allowed to assume power as she had refused to sell gas to the US, Hasina said, “Our only resource is gas. When I came to power in 1996, many companies came here via international tenders, including some American companies, to extract gas. Then a proposal to sell the gas came, I objected [to that] and I had to pay for that as I was not allowed [to assume power] in the 2001 elections.

“… They always want to interfere. Today they raise questions about human rights, they talk about workers’ rights. Unfortunately, they don’t look at their own country,” she added.

Hasina, also the AL president, said she raised the issue of Palestine when she delivered a speech at the UN.

“When I went to the EU, I raised this question very strongly there too. The children and women of Palestine are being killed in such a way…why is everyone silent now?” she said.

Hasina said the most unfortunate thing was that America vetoed the proposal to stop the war twice in the UN Security Council.

“America looks for human rights in our country. In the USA, they shoot students in schools and restaurants. Their people do not even have the security of their lives.

“But they lord over elsewhere. I don’t know who allowed them to do so. And I was the first in the world to raise the issue and protest in the international arena,” she added.

Stating that the US pokes its nose in the matter of other countries, Hasina said, “They talk about our labour rights, they criticise us whenever something happens in our country, but they don’t look at themselves. In their country, if a worker strikes once, they throw every worker out of work, they don’t care about it.”

She quoted the Shah of Iran as saying, “A friend of America does not require an enemy.”

The prime minister said “hundreds of thousands of young people gave their lives” in Ukraine, many people have become refugees and have been displaced. The children are not getting education or food.

“But now they [US] are saying that they don’t have money, they can’t provide anything, can’t do anything. Then why did they start the war? Why did they instigate it?” the premier said.

“Yes, Russia attacked and we never supported this attack. We step very carefully at the UN or at the international level because our foreign policy is friendship with everyone and enmity with none. We follow that.

“They [US] are taking one kind of stance in Ukraine but in Palestine, they will not stop bombing hospitals and killing women, children and people. They are giving money to Israel to buy weapons and are selling their weapons. I still do not understand what is the definition of their human rights. The world also seems to have not understood. This is the reality.”

Hasina thanked people across the world for realising this.

She said the US lecturing us while people in America are being killed and Palestine is being attacked can never be tolerated.

“Yes, I know the trouble they caused for not getting gas in 2001, however, they can’t do it anymore. People were not so aware then but now people are very aware.”