Dhaka to decide whether to seek Hasina’s extradition

Dhaka, Aug 16 – As cases rise against her, including murder accusations, Bangladesh will decide whether to ask India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned and fled to New Delhi last week, the country’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain said.

Hossain, in an interview, said on Thursday that he did not want to speculate, but noted that Hasina was facing “so many cases”, The Daily Star reported.

If the country’s Home and Law Ministries decide, “we have to ask for her… return to Bangladesh,” he added.

“That creates an embarrassing situation for the Indian government,” he said, adding India “knows this and I am sure they will take care of it”. He did not elaborate.

India’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Hasina fled the country for India on August 5 after a violent uprising against her led to nearly 300 people getting killed, including many students. She has been named in two murder cases already, along with senior members of her Cabinet, The Daily Star reported.

In his first interview to international media since taking over, Hossain said Yunus is “very unhappy about the way the statements are coming from India, from the former Prime Minister” and he conveyed this to the Indian envoy in a meeting on Wednesday.

He added that Dhaka wants good ties with everyone, including India, China and the US.

Ataur Rahman, deputy director of the investigation cell of International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic court, said it had launched a third case — an investigation against 10 people, including Hasina, for murder, torture and genocide during the period of the protests.

At least three of Hasina’s former Ministers and Advisers have already been arrested in Bangladesh.

In her only statement since her ouster, Hasina has demanded a probe into the killings and vandalism during the protests. She has not commented on the charges against her.

Hossain, a retired diplomat, is the adviser on foreign affairs in the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which was sworn in last week after Hasina’s ouster. The council of advisers includes other retired officials, lawyers, student leaders of the protests and some opposition leaders.

Discussing possible elections in Bangladesh, the adviser said that there will be more clarity on the timeline by September.

“Because everyone, all my colleagues in the council of advisers, they are extremely busy with bringing back normalcy” which should be restored by early September, he said.

He said the interim’s government priority is to bring “irreversible” reforms, “because our system has been thoroughly corrupted and the institutions have been destroyed and they have to be restored.”

Once elections are announced, he said, “we fade away”, referring to senior members of the interim government.

“None of us have any political ambitions.”