Why Sheikh Hasina’s extradition to Bangladesh isn’t a realistic scenario

While two or three murder, abduction, torture, genocide, etc, charges against Sheikh Hasina have sprouted since well after her ouster from power and safe passage to India, they hardly qualify as legal challenges. They do not, as they stand, hold up under universal ‘burden of proof’ criteria. Or in terms of the much more pedestrian extradition treaty of 2013, between India and Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina was deposed nearly a fortnight ago, on August 5, 2024.

Sheikh Hasina was air-lifted to India, along with her family, in Bangladesh military air transports. She was accompanied by an escort of Bangladesh military personnel, and set flight after permission was obtained via the Indian ambassador to Dhaka and India’s external affairs ministry. The Bangladeshi military personnel along with their aeroplane left the Hindon Airbase near the capital, after a day, leaving Sheikh Hasina and her family behind in India.

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The nature of Sheikh Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh in a bloodless coup engineered by the Bangladesh military, suggests, as in other such circumstances, immunity from subsequent prosecution, probably in return for her immediate resignation.

Sheikh Hasina was the elected head of the Bangladesh government, whereas the current government is nominated by the military. Her present refuge in India is based on a long history of good relations with India. However, she is here temporarily, and has not sought either asylum or political refugee status.

Meanwhile, India is bracing for the possibility of a large influx of Bangladeshi Hindu refugees and other people from her Awami League Party that are facing hostility in Bangladesh. India is maintaining a vigil on the border and working with the current Bangladeshi government to stabilise the situation.

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India is already host to crores of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants that have arrived over the years. They have not been pushed back in the interest of good neighbourly relations with Sheikh Hasina’s government. These include the dangerous and disruptive Rohingyas, originally from Myanmar. However, India’s attitude to harbouring all these Bangladeshi illegals could change, based on the behaviour and manifest attitude of the new government.

The murder and other charges against Sheikh Hasina were posted since her departure, mostly by ‘affected’ citizens. All of them happened after she left the country, and could be interpreted as an afterthought. The Bangladeshi courts themselves are yet to admit any of these cases, let alone consider them.

The erstwhile Chief Justice of Bangladesh was also ousted and replaced through the action of a revolutionary mob. The current judiciary will be struggling to maintain its autonomy in the presently charged atmosphere.

The 2013 extradition treaty with Bangladesh was hardly designed to extradite former heads of state. It was a construct put together to apprehend mostly convicted criminals from India or Bangladesh who might have run away across the border. How often it has been used is another question, given the many illegals found in all parts of India including the national capital. These illegals work as domestic helpers, construction workers, and at other humble jobs. Unfortunately, they also contribute to a fifth column, from those that are radicalised, to the criminal, flesh and drug trading cohorts, and the terrorist/rioting element. They have been caught more than once engaged in such practices.

There was extensive arson, illegal destruction of government property and monuments, private property, mob-lynchings, before and after the fall of the Awami League government. Post the ouster, there was violence against Awami League personnel, and minorities, particularly Hindus who were said to be backing the Awami League. All this was largely unchecked by the Bangladesh security forces. These constitute human rights violations on the grand scale. The same sort of thing that the new mob accuses Sheikh Hasina and her people of.

The interim government, cobbled together after Sheikh Hasina’s departure, is unelected, inexperienced, and no deadline has been announced for fresh elections. Some reports indicate that this unelected government may continue for a prolonged period.

The head of the advisory government is 83-year-old Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Laureate for his work with the Grameen Bank, a micro-lending institution. Yunus has come back from exile in Paris after differences with the Hasina government. He also faced a number of corruption charges.

Does this largely advisory and de facto government, headed by Yunus and propped up by the Bangladesh Army, have the legitimate authority to conduct the affairs of state, let alone seek Sheikh Hasina’s extradition?

The de facto foreign minister Mohammed Touhid Hossain said on August 15, 2024, that his government would soon decide on the demand for Sheikh Hasina’s extradition based on inputs from its home and law ministers.

The students, central to the quota stir, have already announced they will be forming a political party of their own, to get away from the bipolarity of the Awami League and the Islamist-backed BNP. So, this implies elections will be held eventually, or at least the students think so.

Hindus still constitute about 8 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 million population, down from nearly 20 per cent in 1947. Their decline in numbers has been called a ‘drip-drip genocide’ by a commentator. Muhammad Yunus has assured India and the community of their safety, amidst reports of blackmail and demands for extortion money to ensure their self-same safety.

The Bangladesh economy which was doing well under Sheikh Hasina must be stabilised by the new government. The challenge is to not descend in chaos in the name of religious fundamentalism, or fall under the sway of foreign entities keen on dominating in Bangladesh. It is important for Bangladesh to maintain cordial relations with nuclear weaponised India next door for the sake of its very economy and security. It would be well advised not to do anything provocative vis-à-vis India at the instigation of foreign agencies.

Demanding the extradition of Sheikh Hasina will not be acceded to by India, which is set to become the third largest economy in the world. India won’t buckle to Bangladeshi pressure. Souring of relations with India may be music to Chinese and Pakistani ears, but is not in the best interests of Bangladesh itself.

The writer is a Delhi-based political commentator. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.