Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said it is not up to her to pardon Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus who has recently been sentenced to six months in jail for the violation of labour law.
Replying to a question if she would consider granting pardon to Muhammad Yunus as she celebrates her election victory, the PM said that she has nothing to do here as the labour court passed the judgement.
The question was asked by an Indian journalist during a post-polls courtesy meeting with visiting foreign observers and media personnel as well as local journalists at Ganabhaban in Dhaka.
Hasina said that Yunus violated the labour law and deprived his own employees who filed a case at the labour court. “I have nothing to do with that,” she said adding that he should seek pardon to the employees whom he deprived.
Responding to a question from a BBC journalist if she believes that Bangladesh can be considered a vibrant democracy with the absence of any opposition party, the AL chief said each and every political party has the right to take their own decision. The female journalist also mentioned that 60 per cent of the voters did not cast their ballots in Sunday’s election.
The PM answered that if a particular party doesn’t participate in the election, it doesn’t mean that there is no democracy. “You have to consider whether people participated or not,” she said.
“The party did not participate in the election and they tried to prevent people from casting votes. But the people did not listen to them,” she said amid applause by some in the audience.
Noting that she doesn’t know if there is any other definition of democracy, she said the participation of the people is the main thing here.
Coming down heavily on BNP for unleashing terror and arson violence, Hasina threw a counter question to the journalist as to how does she define a democratic party. “They are a terrorist party,” she said.
