Sheikh Hasina should be extradited, Bangladesh hardens its stance

A top adviser in Bangladesh's interim government has said that his country would strongly protest if India tried to refuse extradition of ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina by citing any provision in the treaty, latest media reports say.

Law Adviser Asif Nazrul's comment came hours after Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Hasina, who fled to India after being ousted following massive anti-government protests.

The tribunal directed the authorities to produce Hasina and 45 others charged along with her before it by November 18.

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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.

'Extradition process soon'

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 archrival 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.

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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.

(With Agency inputs)