Mohammed Touhid Hossain, the Bangladesh interim government’s foreign affairs advisor, said the interim government could consider seeking the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in New Delhi.
Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh for India on August 5, after a violent uprising against her led to nearly 300 deaths, including that of many students. She has been named in at least two murder cases.
“Her staying in Delhi, in India, the question comes that…there are so many cases (against Hasina) that could be… again some speculating, I am not a person right to answer this, if there is a request from there (Ministry of Home and Ministry of Law) we have to ask for her, you know, return to Bangladesh,” Hossain was quoted as saying by Reuters TV.
At least three of Hasina’s former ministers and advisers have already been arrested in Bangladesh.
“If there is a demand from there, and that creates an embarrassing situation for the Indian government. So I think the Indian government knows this and I am sure they will take care of it,” he further added.
In his first interview to international media since taking over, Hossain said Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus, who is leading the interim government, is “very unhappy about the way the statements are coming from India, from the former prime minister”, and he conveyed this to the Indian envoy in a meeting on earlier this month.
“Professor Yunus is very unhappy about the way the statements are coming from India, from the former Prime Minister. He is quite unhappy about this and I have conveyed this to the High Commissioner (of India). I have also told the press that we have conveyed this because we believe in transparent relations,” he said.
Hossain also said that Bangladesh should not be tackling the issues arising out of the Rohingya crisis and the influx of the minority group from Myanmar which is fleeing the country due to persecution.
“India is a very large country, if they want to take some, it’s fine. We have taken a million, let them take 200,000, I don’t mind. But the goal is their repatriation to their country,” he said.
“We are not in a position to allow any more Rohingyas to enter. It’s a humanitarian issue that involves the entire world, not only Bangladesh. We have done more than our share, and the world should take charge of that,” he further added.
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