Hasina congratulates Johnson on ‘impressive’ election victory

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has congratulated her British counterpart Boris Johnson on his party’s “impressive” election victory.

The Conservative Party’s victory in the Dec 12 election reflects the “tremendous trust and confidence” of the people of the United Kingdom in the party’s leadership, she said in a statement on Saturday.

“The renewed mandate will take Dhaka-London relationship to newer heights,” she added.

Johnson won a resounding election victory that will allow him to take Britain out of the European Union on Jan 31 breaking years of deadlock.

Hasina sought Johnson’s “personal intervention” to ensure justice for the Rohingya ethnic minority of Myanmar recalling his 2018 visit to Bangladesh and meeting with the refugees when he was the foreign secretary.

File Photo: Boris Johnson met Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka during his Bangladesh visit in February, 2018.

Over 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in Bangladesh after decades of persecution and a violent military operation in 2017.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague last week heard a case against Myanmar for alleged atrocities against the Rohingyas. The UN said it found that the Myanmar military conducted mass killings and rapes with “genocidal intent”.

Hasina renewed the call for the UK’s steps to ensure safe and dignified return of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

She also invited him to join the centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh.