Hasina defends India pact

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has strongly defended the defence agreement she signed with India during her recent visit to the country.

“The Awami League, which led the nation’s liberation war cannot sign anything going against the country's interests,” she said in Parliament on Wednesday referring to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s criticism that her government was “selling out” the nation to India.

She pointed out that Bangladesh has defence agreements with other countries such as China, Russia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. The defence agreement with China was signed when the BNP was in power, she said.