Bangladesh: Interim government following process to bring back Hasina

Bangladesh Home Affairs Adviser, Lt Gen (Retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, said a letter has been sent to India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the return of former PM Sheikh Hasina, who escaped to the neighbouring country amid widespread protest against her regime on August 5.

The adviser was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune: “A letter has already been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The process is underway for extradition.”

On the method of her return, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said: “We have a prisoner exchange agreement with India. It will be carried out under that agreement.”

Ties between India and Bangladesh strained after the interim government, headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, came to power in August following the ouster of Hasina, the longest-serving PM of the Muslim-majority nation.

Hasina faced protests over a controversial job quota and soon it spiralled into a massive agitation against her regime. She had returned to power for another term after winning the general polls in January.

In a virtual address at an event in New York earlier this month, Hasina claimed that there were plans to assassinate her and her sister Sheikh Rehana, just like their father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the other family members, who were assassinated in 1975.

She made the claims during her first public address after taking shelter in India following her resignation in August.

Referring to the attack on her official residence in Dhaka on August 5, Hasina had said: “The armed protestors were directed towards Ganabhaban. If the security guards opened fire, many lives would have been lost. It was a matter of 25-30 minutes, and I was forced to leave. I told them [guards] not to fire no matter what happened.”

“Today, I am being accused of genocide. In reality, Yunus has been involved in genocide in a meticulously designed manner. The masterminds — the student coordinators and Yunus — are behind this genocide,” she said.