Enough political space in Bangladesh: Hasina

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said that there was enough political space in Bangladesh and the opposition political parties were using it holding rallies and processions.
‘There is enough political space…There is no doubt about it,’ Hasina, also the president of the ruling Awami League, said in an interview with the Bangla service of the Voice of America transmitted on Saturday.
Replying to a question on an allegation from the opposition political parties that there was dearth of political space in Bangladesh, she said that if a political party ‘commits a mistake, it has to pay for it.’
Two parties, she said, boycotted the general elections, but they participated in the local government polls. They burned people to thwart the national polls, she alleged.
On the allegation of absence of ‘political space’ in Bangladesh, she said how this allegation could be made when anybody ‘can say whatever they want.’
She claimed that her government did not take away freedom of speech from anybody.
The opposition parties were doing everything including holding rallies and processions, Hasina said.
The prime minister was in the United States for attending the 71st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
She is expected to reach home on September 30.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net