Hasina accuses rivals of trying to topple govt.

May 19, 2016 12:24 am | Updated 12:24 am IST - DHAKA:

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has accused opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami of joining hands with Israel to overthrow her government, and urged the people to “stay alert against their evil design”.

The BNP and Jamaat have become “so desperate that they are now conspiring with Israel to oust me... They have joined hands with those who are frequently killing children and women in Palestine,” state news agency BSS reported quoting the Prime Minister.

Her comments came days after Bangladesh police arrested BNP Joint Secretary General Aslam Chowdhury for holding meetings with an Israeli politician having links to intelligence agency Mossad.

Ms. Hasina, who was in London on way to Bulgaria, told a meeting on Tuesday organised by the party’s U.K. unit that “these plotters and killers are conspiring against the country, even against Islam... They don’t want Bangladesh and they don’t understand anything except their own interest”.

Israeli leader’s meeting

Israeli politician Mendi N. Safadi said he had met the BNP leader in India, but claimed that it was during a public event and that they had not discussed “any secret issues”, according to the BBC Bangla Service.

“There can’t be anything more ridiculous than claiming that we discussed a military coup in Bangladesh or conspired to topple the government,” the report quoted him as saying. Mr. Safadi, a member of the right wing Likud party, is a former adviser to Israeli deputy minister Ayoub Kara, and runs a think-tank, Mandi N Safadi Center, for International Diplomacy and Public Relations.

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