Students and other activists carry Bangladesh’s flag during a protest march organised by the Students Against Discrimination to mark one month since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down after a mass uprising, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on September 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal is to seek the extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from neighbouring India, its chief prosecutor has said, accusing her of carrying out “massacres”.

Weeks of student-led demonstrations in Bangladesh escalated into mass protests last month, with Ms. Hasina quitting as Prime Minister and fleeing by helicopter to old ally India on August 5, ending her iron-fisted 15-year rule.

“As the main perpetrator has fled the country, we will start the legal procedure to bring her back,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters on Sunday (September 8, 2024).

The ICT was set up by Ms. Hasina in 2010 to probe atrocities during the 1971 independence war from Pakistan.

Ms. Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.

“Bangladesh has a criminal extradition treaty with India which was signed in 2013, while Sheikh Hasina’s government was in power,” Mr. Islam added.

“As she has been made the main accused of the massacres in Bangladesh, we will try to legally bring her back to Bangladesh to face trial”.

Ms. Hasina, 76, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh, and her last official whereabouts is a military airbase near India’s capital New Delhi. Her presence in India has infuriated Bangladesh.

Dhaka has revoked her diplomatic passport, and the countries have a bilateral extradition treaty which would permit her return to face criminal trial.

A clause in the treaty, however, says extradition might be refused if the offence is of a “political character”.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over after the uprising, last week said Ms. Hasina should “keep quiet” while exiled in India until she is brought home for trial.

“If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” Mr. Yunus, 84, told the Press Trust of India news agency.

His government has been under public pressure to demand her extradition and trial over the hundreds of demonstrators killed during the weeks of unrest that ultimately toppled her.

More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina’s ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report, suggesting the toll was “likely an underestimate”.

Bangladesh last month opened an investigation led by a retired high court judge into hundreds of enforced disappearances by security forces during Hasina’s rule.

Dhaka:

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.

Following unprecedented anti-government protests that peaked on August 5, 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 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,” Islam added.

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 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.

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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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”.

Guwahati:

The body of Bangladeshi Awami League leader Ishaque Ali Khan Panna, a former General Secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and a key member of the Awami League, is likely to be handed over to Bangladesh High Commission officials today, a top Meghalaya official told NDTV.

The body will likely be taken to the Dawki-Tamabil international border check post in Meghalaya and transferred to Bangladesh, the official further added.

The Meghalaya government had earlier stated that it is waiting for instructions from the Centre on the next steps to be taken following the recent recovery of the politician’s body. Panna had fled Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime and had allegedly entered India illegally, likely through the Dona Bhoi area of East Jaiñtia Hills (EJH) District, approximately 1.5 kilometers from the Indo-Bangladesh border.

The body, discovered on the evening of August 26, 2024, has been identified through a Bangladeshi passport.

The body has been kept in the Khliehriat Civil Hospital’s morgue for identification. A post-mortem indicated that he died of throttling.

Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police), Prestone Tynsong, said, “We have informed the higher authorities and also the High Commissioners of Bangladesh and India about the discovery of the body, and now we are waiting for instructions from the Home Ministry on the next steps to be taken.”

However, before the formal handover of the body, forensic test samples will be collected to aid in the investigation of how the politician died.

“The Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs are taking care of everything, and our responsibility as the state government is only to hand over the dead body to the concerned family members once they reach Meghalaya (India),” he said.

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least four more murder cases have been filed against Bangladesh’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet ministers and aides, media reports said on Sunday (August 25, 2024).

kA murder case was filed on Sunday (August 25, 2024) against 76-year-old Ms. Hasina, former director general of Border Guard of Bangladesh Gen Aziz Ahmed and 11 others over the death of Abdur Rahim, an official of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in 2010, state-run BSS news agency reported.

Also read | Bangladesh’s student movement and Hasina’s exit: the hard truth and India’s hour of reckoning

Rahim, then deputy assistant director (DAD) of former BDR, was an accused in the case lodged over the carnage that took place in Pilkhana in 2010.  He died in jail custody on July 29 of the same year.

Rahim’s son Advocate Abdul Aziz filed the case with the court of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Akteruzzaman.

Another murder case was filed on Sunday against Ms. Hasina and 48 others for killing a student of the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement on July 18, the agency said.

Victim Shaikh Ashabul Yeamin’s uncle Abdullah-Al Kabir filed a plea to Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Saiful Islam’s court Sunday, appealing to lodge a murder case against the 49 accused, it added.

Accepting the petition, the court ordered police to record the statement of the plaintiff and register the complaint as a first information report (FIR).

Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, among others, have been made accused in the case.

A separate case was filed against Hasina and 27 others over the killing of a seller of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) products in the capital during the recent protests.

Mamunur Rashid, the brother-in-law of victim Md Eusuf Sanowar, filed the complaint with Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saddam Hossain. The court asked the officer in charge of Jatrabari Police Station to accept the matter as a first information report (FIR).

The other prominent accused in the case are – Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and former ministers Anisul Huq and Tajul Islam.

Another case was filed against 25 people, including Ms. Hasina, over the killing of an auto-rickshaw driver in the capital during the recent protests.

Ms. Hasina, the Awami League chairperson, now faces at least 53 cases, including 44 for murders, seven for crimes against humanity and genocide, one for abduction and one for an attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) procession.

Ms. Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 after unprecedented anti-government student-led protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs.

The Hasina-led government was replaced by an interim government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.

BSF personnel keep vigil at the India-Bangladesh international Border on the eve of the Independence Day, at Chatrahati in South Dinajpur district of West Bengal .
| Photo Credit: ANI

A retired judge of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court was detained from the northeastern frontier with India in Sylhet while he was allegedly attempting to flee the country, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said late on Friday (August 23, 2024).

The report came hours after the arrest of Awami League leader ASM Firoz from his residence.

Watch: The story of Sheikh Hasina

The BGB headquarters, in an SMS, informed reporters that they have detained former apex appellate division judge of the Supreme Court Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik as he was trying to cross over to India through Sylhet’s Kanaighat border.

Newspaper Prothom Alo said Manik was kept at a BGB outpost till midnight citing the camp’s in-charge.

Bangladesh descended into chaos after ousted premier Sheikh Hasina’s government collapsed and she fled to India on August 5 amid violent protests over quota for government jobs, while the Army stepped in to fill the power vacuum.

Before that, anti-government protests had killed more than 500 people since mid-July. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took oath as the Chief Adviser of the interim government on August 8.

Since August 5, a number of leaders of the deposed regime, including senior ministers, have been arrested — many of them on murder charges.

The Bangladesh Army has earlier said that several hundred leaders of Hasina’s Awami League and others have been sheltered in cantonments as their lives were at risk.

Former law minister Anisul Huq and the ex-premier’s private sector affairs adviser Salman F Rahman were the first to be arrested from Dhaka’s main river port Sadarghat terminal area as they were allegedly trying to leave Dhaka on a boat.

A number of members of Hasina’s cabinet, including former foreign minister Hassan Mahmud and former social welfare minister Dipu Moni, several lawmakers and leaders of Awami League and its allies, including pro-left Workers Party chairman Rashed Khan Menon, and a number of recently sacked military and civil officials have been arrested.

This included sacked major general Ziaul Hassan, who was serving as the head of the government’s telecommunications system, and Chittagong Port Authority chairman rear admiral Mohammad Sohail, who once was the spokesman of the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion.

A TV journalist couple Farzana Rupa and her husband Shakil Ahmed have also been arrested.

New Delhi:

In a key address to diplomats in Dhaka on Sunday, Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government, called for comprehensive reforms before holding the next general elections. This meeting marked Mr Yunus’ first engagement with the diplomatic community since assuming office on August 8, following the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Mr Yunus, a Nobel laureate, took charge amid a volatile political landscape that saw mass protests and violence resulting in the ousting of Ms Hasina. In his address, Yunus outlined the interim government’s roadmap for a stable and democratic Bangladesh, starting with a free, fair, and participatory election.

“We will hold a free, fair participatory election as soon as we can complete our mandate to carry out vital reforms in our election commission, judiciary, civil administration, security forces and media,” he told diplomats, including India’s High Commissioner in Dhaka, Pranay Verma.

Restoring Normalcy 

On August 5, Ms Hasina, aged 76, fled Bangladesh by helicopter to India as protesters overran the streets of Dhaka. Her 15-year rule, marked by allegations of human rights abuses, came to a dramatic end. The weeks leading up to her ousting were bloody, with more than 450 dying during the unrest and several reports of attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority community.

The Chief Adviser said restoring law and order in the country is a top priority for his government. “We will be close to normalcy within a short period, with the unwavering support of our people and patriotic armed forces,” Mr Yunus said. “The top priority of the Interim Government would be to bring the law and order situation under control…The armed forces will continue to serve in aid of civil power as long as the situation warrants.”

Reviving Economy 

In addition to political reforms, Mr Yunus spoke about the need for robust economic reforms. The country had suffered under what he described as Ms Hasina’s “brutal dictatorship,” which, according to Mr Yunus, had led to widespread corruption and mismanagement.

“Our government will undertake far-reaching economic reforms to restore macroeconomic stability and sustain growth,” he said.

Mr Yunus accused Sheikh Hasina of systematically destroying the country’s institutions during her 15-year tenure. He alleged that elections under Ms Hasina’s rule were rigged, and democratic rights were suppressed.

“In their efforts to stay in power, Sheikh Hasina’s dictatorship destroyed every institution of the country,” Mr Yunus said. He described the judiciary as broken and accused the former administration of allowing political patronage to rob banks and plunder the state coffers.

The Nobel laureate described the recent mass uprising as a “Second Revolution,” led by students and ordinary citizens who sought to reclaim their democratic rights. 

International Support

In his message to the international community, Mr Yunus called for continued support in rebuilding Bangladesh and transitioning to a fully functional democracy. He assured the diplomats that Bangladesh would maintain its role as a proponent of multilateralism, with the United Nations at the core of its foreign policy.

“We believe all our friends and partners in the international community will stand by our government and people as we chart a new democratic future,” Yunus said.

“Bangladesh stands at the crossroads of a new beginning. Our valiant students and people deserve a lasting transformation of our nation. It is a difficult journey and we need your help along the way. We need to fulfil their aspirations. The sooner the better,” he added.

Mr Yunus also welcomed the United Nations’ decision to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the recent violence, committing to cooperate fully with the international inquiry.

An application was filed with a court in Bangladesh on Sunday (August 18, 2024) to register a case against deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 33 others, accusing them of carrying out a ‘mass’ murder by indiscriminately firing on a rally organised in 2013 by Hefazat-e-Islam, in Dhaka.

“Babul Sardar Chakhari, chairman of the Bangladesh People’s Party (BPP), applied to the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Zaki-Al-Farabi,” the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

The application accused them of the ‘mass’ murder during the rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel on May 5, 2013. The court recorded the plaintiff’s statement and said it would pass an order on the issue later.

With this, 76-year-old Hasina, who resigned from the Premiership and fled to India on August 5 following a mass uprising, now faces 11 cases, including eight for murder, one for abduction, and two for committing crimes against humanity and genocide, in Bangladesh.

More than 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) started an investigation against the former Premier and nine others on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity that took place from July 15 to August 5 during students’ mass movement against her government.

An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led regime, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been appointed as its Chief Advisor.

The United Nations said Friday there were strong indications that the Bangladeshi security forces used unnecessary force in tackling the student-led uprising that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, fled to neighbouring India by helicopter last week as demonstrators flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.

More than 450 people were killed in the weeks of protests leading up to her ousting on August 5.

“There are strong indications, warranting further independent investigation, that the security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force in their response to the situation,” the UN human rights office said in a preliminary report.

“Alleged violations included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, and severe restrictions on exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.”

The report stressed the need for a rapid restoration of law and order, and the need to prevent further loss of life, violence and acts of reprisals.

The interim government replacing Sheikh Hasina, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has invited UN investigators to probe the violent “atrocities” that accompanied her ousting.

Yunus, 84, returned from Europe last week to head a temporary administration that faces the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the transition in Bangladesh was a chance to ensure governance is anchored in rights and the rule of law.

“The transition ahead presents an historic opportunity to reform and revitalise the country’s institutions, to restore fundamental freedoms and civic space, and to give all in Bangladesh a part in building the future,” he said.

“Accountability for violations and justice for the victims are key for the way forward, and will need to be accompanied by a national healing process,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The United Nations report stressed the need for a rapid restoration of law and order. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The United Nations said on Friday (August 16, 2024) there were strong indications that the Bangladeshi security forces used unnecessary force in tackling the student-led uprising that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina.

Ms. Hasina, 76, fled to neighbouring India by helicopter last week as demonstrators flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.

More than 450 people were killed in the weeks of protests leading up to her ousting on August 5.

Also Read:Analysis: Why Hasina fell

“There are strong indications, warranting further independent investigation, that the security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force in their response to the situation,” the UN Human Rights office said in a preliminary report.

“Alleged violations included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, and severe restrictions on exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.”

The report stressed the need for a rapid restoration of law and order, and the need to prevent further loss of life, violence and acts of reprisals.

The interim government replacing Ms. Hasina, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has invited UN investigators to probe the violent “atrocities” that accompanied her ousting.

Mr. Yunus, 84, returned from Europe last week to head a temporary administration that faces the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.

UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk said the transition in Bangladesh was a chance to ensure governance is anchored in rights and the rule of law.

“The transition ahead presents an historic opportunity to reform and revitalise the country’s institutions, to restore fundamental freedoms and civic space, and to give all in Bangladesh a part in building the future,” he said.

“Accountability for violations and justice for the victims are key for the way forward, and will need to be accompanied by a national healing process,” he said.