Bangladesh warns of strong protest if India blocks Hasina extradition bid

A top adviser in Bangladesh’s interim government said that the country will strongly protest if India refuses to extradite ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, citing any treaty provision, according to media reports.

The statement of Law Adviser Asif Nazrul came after Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants against Hasina on Thursday. She fled to India following her ousting amid massive anti-government protests. The tribunal ordered authorities to produce Hasina and 45 co-accused by November 18.

Asif, while speaking to a news channel late on Thursday, said they will have many legal arrangements but ”India is certainly bound to return Hasina (to Bangladesh) if India honestly interprets this.” Bangladesh and India already have an extradition treaty.

Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Thursday said: ”As we said earlier, she had come here at a short notice for safety reasons, and she continues to be here.” Hasina, 77, landed at the Hindon airbase near Delhi on August 5 as the protests, which started out as an agitation by students over a controversial quota for government jobs, peaked.

She was believed to have been shifted later to an unspecified location, and has not been seen in public since then.

Nazrul had said at a media briefing last month that Bangladesh would formally seek the extradition of Hasina once the trial process began.

Dhaka Tribune quoted Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Thursday said the interim government would take the necessary steps and try to bring Hasina back as the ICT issued an arrest warrant against her and top Awami League leaders.

Meanwhile, a senior leader of Hasina’s arch rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said giving asylum to Hasina was like providing shelter to ”a killer and a criminal. We have to bring her back through due diplomatic process.” Hasina faces almost 200 cases, mostly murders during the student protests.

Hundreds of people were also killed in the violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 1,000 since the protests first started in mid-July.

After taking over on August 8, Bangladesh’s interim government said it would try in the ICT those involved in the killings during the mass movement of students.

In an interview with PTI in September, Yunus accused Hasina of making political remarks from India. He said the ousted prime minister must remain silent to prevent discomfort to both countries until Dhaka requests her extradition.