Bangladesh will take necessary steps to extradite deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Bangladesh will take necessary steps to extradite deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India to try her on charges of mass killings during the student-led mass movement against her government, the newly-appointed chief prosecutor of the country’s International Crimes Tribunal said on Sunday, September 8, 2024.

Following unprecedented anti-government protests that peaked on August 5, Ms. Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and fled to India.

Necessary steps will be taken to bring former Prime Minister Hasina back under the extradition treaty with India to try her on charges of mass killings during the student-led protests in July and August, International Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Md Tajul Islam was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.

“We will file an application with the International Crimes Tribunal, when it resumes functions, to issue arrest warrants against all the absconding accused including Sheikh Hasina in connection with the cases filed for mass killing and crimes against humanity,” he said at a press briefing on the ICT premises in Dhaka.

Replying to a question, he said a decision would be taken after consulting with the government about amendments to the existing International Crimes Tribunal Act for holding trial of the new cases filed with IT.

“Information, documents, and evidence against the accused persons will have to be collected from across the country and those will have to be compiled, examined, and placed properly before the tribunal, which is very much challenging and huge task,” Mr. Islam added.

Also Read: Sheikh Hasina looks at UAE, Saudi for asylum

According to the interim government’s Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum, more than 1,000 people have been killed and hundreds injured during the protests against the Hasina-led government.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) last month launched an investigation against Ms. Hasina and nine others on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity that took place from July 15 to August 5 during the students’ mass movement.

Mr. Islam said the International Crimes Tribunal and its investigation team will have to be reconstituted by appointing new judges and investigators as previous judges, prosecution team and investigation agency appointed by the previous government have stepped down after the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed in the country following the fall of the Hasina-led government.

Major General A.N.M. Muniruzzaman (Retd.). File image: Special Arrangement

The current state of relations between India and Bangladesh does not leave space for conventional diplomacy for Indian decision makers, a top policy analyst of Bangladesh has said. In an interview with The Hindu, Major General A.N.M. Muniruzzaman (Retd.), President of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) asked the South Block to engage with all parties of the political spectrum in Bangladesh without waiting for the situation to evolve any further.

“India must engage with all sides in Bangladesh’s political arena. After the developments of August 5, the politics of Bangladesh has become very unconventional and classical diplomacy cannot be conducted in this situation and India needs to realise this fast and press the reset button,” he said. The end of the Hasina government need not be interpreted as the end of bilateral relations, he said, while also adding: “South Block should engage with the real stakeholders – the people of Bangladesh.”

Also read | A silent democratic backlash in South Asia

After the fall of the Hasina government, Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration which has granted the decision-making power to several individuals from the civil society and student organisations that protested against Ms. Hasina. The resultant hybrid administration will help facilitate the return of party-level democracy in Bangladesh.

Along with other delegates of the BIPSS, Mr. Muniruzzaman has in the past participated in discussions held under the banner of think tanks such as the Vivekananda International Foundation here and had flagged the declining popularity of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh over the past few years. Mr. Muniruzzaman, who is a well-known peacekeeper with extensive links in the United Nations, recalled that his cautionary words about the prospects of the Sheikh Hasina government did not get the required attention from New Delhi at that time that could have given the necessary early warning about the sudden end of the Hasina regime on 5 August.

“India will have to engage with the country and avoid the temptation of engaging a coterie. India will have to be on the right side of history in Bangladesh,” he said. He indicated that Bangladesh poses a political challenge and calls for the handling of the situation in a creative manner.

Since August 5, Sheikh Hasina has been living in India which has drawn criticism from the current rulers — including the student leaders — in Bangladesh. Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus met with Indian High Commissioner Pranav Verma on August 22 when he sought more security from the authorities in Dhaka because of the prevailing anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh.

That apart, India, unlike other countries such as the United Kingdom, has not ventured out to test the new political players in Dhaka. On Sunday, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke met the Adviser for Information and Broadcasting Nahid Islam and discussed “shared values of media freedom, transparency and accountability.”

India in comparison is maintaining a wait and watch position on the new players such as Mr. Islam who was one of the biggest student leaders who made the fall of the Hasina regime possible. India is yet to make any visible overture to the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) while the BNP has been meeting Chinese, Pakistani and British delegations during the last fortnight. Mr. Muniruzzaman cautioned that India will have to catch up with the new players.

“New Delhi needs to acknowledge that the baton is being passed onto the new generation of Bangladeshis who would want to chart their own future and would also be keen to refashion the relationship with India,” said Shafqat Munir, Senior Research Fellow of BIPSS who cautioned that Dhaka-New Delhi relation has to be “forward-looking and based on mutual respect and that it cannot be beholden to a party or a person”.

BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
| Photo Credit: X/@AmirkhosruBNP

India’s official policy towards Bangladesh “completely failed” as it was dominated by an “ecosystem” consisting of powerful civil servants, “plugged-in” retired diplomats, ideologues and journalists who prioritised security without feeling the political pulse on the ground, said one of the top decision-makers of the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Speaking to The Hindu in Dhaka this week, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, head of the foreign affairs cell of the BNP, urged India to appreciate the prevailing popular sentiments in Bangladesh, arguing that all the three elections in the last decade in Bangladesh were “fraudulent,” where India played the role of an “enabler”.

“In the case of Bangladesh, this ecosystem created the narrative that without Ms. Hasina, Bangladesh would go to the fundamentalists. If not for Hasina, the security of India would be in danger. India has to come out of this ecosystem and mindset. South Block should wake up and smell the coffee,” said Mr. Chowdhury, warning that the India-Bangladesh relationship would take years to recover if this trend continues.

Watch: The story of Sheikh Hasina

He said the bloodshed that Bangladesh witnessed in the last days of Sheikh Hasina’s government could have been “absolutely” avoided if a free and fair election were held in January this year. He expressed dismay at the speed at which India recognised the outcome of the January election, which he described as “totally fraudulent”.

Political stalemate

Over the past decade, the BNP, which was defeated by Ms. Hasina in the 2009 election, has been demanding polls under a caretaker government. This demand, on multiple occasions, created a political stalemate in Bangladesh.

In 2014, the BNP boycotted the election as it demanded it be held under a caretaker Government. It repeated this position in 2018 and 2024 and ultimately boycotted both elections.

Mr. Chowdhury alleged that to deal with the political stalemate of 2014, the then-Foreign Secretary of India, Sujatha Singh, had flown to Dhaka in December 2013 and held meetings with PM Hasina and BNP leader Khaleda Zia. He also lobbied with the former President and leader of the Jatiyo Party — the late Hossein Mohammed Ershad, and urged him to contest the election.

“What else can we call it if not enabling in a situation when Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh tried to force Mr. Ershad to participate in the election that everybody knew was going to be fabricated and stolen? She tried to give credibility to the 2014 election by forcing Ershad – who was reluctant – to contest. People of Bangladesh did not like it,” said Mr. Chowdhury giving out his version.

“India recognised the Awami League governments time and again in 2014, 2018, 2024, and in fact, played the role of an enabler for all the three elections. I am not mincing my words,” said Mr. Chowdhury, explaining that his frank remarks about the three polls is the “hard reality” of India-Bangladesh relation.

He further clarified that the ecosystem that he blamed for dominating India’s relation with Bangladesh “consisted of a group of powerful civil servants, retired bureaucrats plugged in to the policy circle, journalists and ideologues who possibly also personally benefitted” and said, “They completely failed to understand the psyche of Bangladesh.”

He appreciated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her concern for the protesters in Bangladesh and expressed satisfaction saying that after the fall of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, he is hearing that there has been some introspection about the Indian policy towards Bangladesh.

“I have tried. I have been to India, given many talks but they would keep going on and on about the same narrative of how Hasina alone could take on fundamentalism. But after the latest disaster, I see some change which is being led by the Indian civil society. Mamata Banerjee has also taken a reasonable position,” said Mr. Chowdhury.

Nearly 200 are dead from violent student protests and firing by forces in Bangladesh – is PM Sheikh Hasina, who won elections just a few months ago, losing her grip on gen-next, and will the unrest India’s closest neighbour is grappling with, spill over?

But first, Bangladesh is taking a pause from days of brutal violence as forces took on student protestors demonstrating against the quota system. A look at the situation right now, although information remains restricted.

July 1: Protests by students began after the Supreme Court upheld an earlier government order maintaining about 56% of all government jobs would be reserved for freedom fighters – the mukti jodha/ mukti bahini of Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971, their children and even grandchildren. The students on the street said they were fighting what they saw as a move to make the bureaucracy politically aligned to the ruling Awami League.

There’s a lot more on the underlying social, historical and political tensions in this podcast at The Hindu with my colleague Kallol Bhattacherjee.

July 14: In a statement appealing for calm, PM Hasina actually fuelled protestors anger- by saying that those protesting were Razakars- a term used for those Bangladeshis who supported Pakistan in 1971, seen as traitors. The protests battled police, set fire to government buildings IT centres, vandalized a metro station.

Shoot at sight orders, a nationwide curfew, internet bans followed. The army and paramilitary Rapid Action Forces were called in, as the violence spiralled out of control.

July 21: The supreme court’s appellate bench struck down the earlier order, bringing down quotas for freedom fighters and families to 5%. The order helped restore calm, although students groups still demand an apology from PM Hasina, and the resignation of her ministers for the crackdown. In 3 weeks, nearly 200 had been killed, thousands injured – including hundred with eye injuries from pellets and bullets fired by the forces.

The worry now, that when the curfew is lifted and internet fully restored, the protests could recur, or continue to simmer, posing a threat to the Hasina government, that was once seen as the champion of students movements.

In fact there has been some concern internationally. The UN spokesperson said the UNSG was deeply concerned, particularly as UN marked vehicles were used by riot police in Dhaka.

At a congressional hearing, a senior US official said that they were in touch with Bangladeshi authorities, to calm the violence and to rescind shoot at sight orders – of course PM Hasina has a tense relationship with the US and has indirectly claimed that its sanctions against her during elections were to force her to allow a US base in Bangladesh.

So is this the internal matter of Bangladesh, and why should India worry?

– Bangladesh is one of India’s closest neighbours, very strong ties between the leaders that were seen as PM Hasina made two visits to India in June- for the swearing in and for a bilateral visit.

– Protests hurt Bangladesh economically, and India is a strong partner on trade, energy and connectivity.

– The protests against 1971 related quotas carried a subtext that could turn anti-Indian- as India is not just connected to Muktibahinis in the past, but today is accused by the opposition siding with PM Hasina.

– About 10,000 Indian students are in Bangladesh- about 7,000 had to be evacuated already, and prolonged protests will disrupt their lives.

– Bangladesh’s problems quickly become a problem with West Bengal- the Hasina government protested this week when Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that if innocent Bangladeshis fled across the border, she would have to give them shelter under UN laws. The MEA issued a sharp rebuke to the West Bengal govt after it received the letter.

– Bangladesh’s other major partner is China, which will not criticize PM Hasina for internal violence, and India would not want to give Beijing the advantage.

– Bangladesh has been sensitive to India on protests as well, for eg. Calling the CAA protests an internal matter, and the Modi government does not want be seen interfering in this matter.

Worldview Take:

The crackdown in Bangladesh on student protestors, and the extent of violence just six months after PM Sheikh Hasina began her fourth term in office, is a big challenge to the popularity of her government, and the conduct of forces, indiscriminate firing causing dozens of deaths is another undemocratic turn in the country. It is ironical that the 1971 liberation, and Hasina’s own return to politics and power in 1996 and 2008 all accrue to student movements – losing gen-next’s support over these protests will be a big blow. As a close partner of Bangladesh, not just PM Hasina’s, India can be discreet but not remain silent with such turmoil in its neighbourhood.

Reading recommendations:

Transformation: Emergence of Bangladesh and Evolution of India-Bangladesh Ties by Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty

India and the Bangladesh Liberation War by Chandrashekhar Dasgupta

Paradoxes of the Popular: Crowd Politics in Bangladesh by Nusrat Sabina Chowdhury

 Biden and Beyond: The United States Rethinks South Asia by Hernaikh Singh and C Raja Mohan

Routledge Handbook of Autocratization in South Asia by Sten Widmalm- Section on Bangladesh, towards One Party Rule

Sheikh Hasina: The Making of an Extraordinary South Asian Leader by Dr Abul Hasnat Milton

A WORLD OF THREE ZEROS by Muhammad Yunus

Production: Shibu Narayan and Kanishkaa Balachandran

The inherent strength of India-Bangladesh relationship was once again in evidence as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, decided to visit New Delhi days after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ease with which the top leadership in Delhi and Dhaka now interact and engage each other is a tribute to the manner in which Modi and Hasina have managed to build this important partnership over the last decade, often under very difficult circumstances. If Modi had to contend with the opposition at the state level in West Bengal, where the ruling party decided to veto the Teesta Pact, Hasina had to face the anti-India constituency in Bangladesh. Despite this, both leaders stood firm in their belief that building resilience in this partnership is important for not only bilaterally but also regionally.

“Trusted Friend”

On her first official overseas visit to any country since she returned to power earlier this year in January, Hasina underlined: “India is our major neighbour, trusted friend and regional partner. Bangladesh-India relations are growing at a fast pace.” Modi reciprocated by highlighting the special nature of this visit: “Because she is our first state guest after our government returned to power for the third term.”

Also Read | “Unilateral Discussions…”: Mamata Banerjee To PM On Bangladesh Talks

The visit saw the signing of 10 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), which covered areas as diverse as digital and green partnerships, maritime cooperation, and, notably, the ‘Shared Vision for India-Bangladesh Rail Connectivity’. The joint statement outlined a shared bilateral and regional vision for peace, prosperity and development, driven by connectivity, commerce and collaboration. In that spirit, some important new initiatives were announced, including e-visa for patients from Bangladesh, new train and bus services, joint technical committee for Ganga Water Treaty, visit of an Indian technical team to Bangladesh for a mega project to conserve and manage the Teesta river, export of 40 MW of power from Nepal to Bangladesh through Indian grid, and training of Bangladeshi police officers. Building Bangladesh’s defence capability has also emerged as a priority, with the two nations deciding “to explore defence industrial cooperation for modernisation of the Armed Forces of Bangladesh”.

Identifying Opportunities, Counterbalancing China

Hasina will be visiting China in July. It is a sign of a new maturity in India-Bangladesh relations that the two nations continue to work closely together even as they develop their ties with other nations. New Delhi has not stopped Dhaka from its engagement with China but it has some concerns that Hasina has always ensured are addressed. Since 2020, China has been regularly expressing an interest in the $1 billion project to develop the Teesta river. Last year, Beijing submitted a formal proposal.

Also Read | Tripura Chief Minister Gifts 500 Kg Of Queen Pineapples To Bangladesh PM

For Bangladesh, this has been a long-standing priority. The Manmohan Singh government had an agreement in place in 2011, which could not be taken forward due to the opposition from the Chief Minister of West Bengal. For Hasina, the situation had become unsustainable, with the opposition clamouring for a response amidst moves by the Chinese. Her visit before going to China was a wise move to ensure that New Delhi had a chance to respond, and India has done well to respond to the initiative. The decision to send an Indian technical team to Dhaka for talks on the conservation and management of Teesta river is an indication that New Delhi is not willing to cede its strategic space in the neighbourhood despite domestic challenges. The decision to commence technical negotiations for the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty is also a timely move to respond to the concerns in Dhaka on an issue that is a priority for the Hasina government.

Rock-Solid Ties

For India, the importance of Bangladesh cannot be overstated as New Delhi seeks to emerge as an Indo-Pacific player with the Bay of Bengal as the regional epicentre. For Bangladesh, a partnership with India remains key to realising its full potential as a critical economic and strategic player in the region. As the two nations become more ambitious in defining their strategic outlooks, their bilateral partnership will continue to be a key enabler in shaping their behaviour.

The China factor, while important, should not be overstated. India-Bangladesh ties today stand on their own merit. Hasina and Modi have ensured that by focusing concrete tangible outcomes for the people of both nations, they have redefined the contours of what an ideal partnership between two neighbours should look like. Mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity have made this relationship an exemplar for all others.

[Harsh V Pant is Vice President for Studies and Foreign Policy at ORF.]

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author