The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has rejected a demand by the country's Islamists to enact a new anti-blasphemy law to punish those who defame Islam and Prophet Mohammad.

Her comments came after hundreds of thousands of Islamists held a rally in the capital Dhaka over the weekend asking for tough punishment to those who insult Islam.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Dhaka, Ms Hasina also dismissed criticism about a special war crimes tribunal trying those Bangladeshis accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces and committing atrocities during the country's 1971 independence war.