Bangladesh's interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday urged India to be guided by “conscience and moral clarity” over its handling of the extradition request for deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity.
Bangladesh in December last year had sent India a note verbale, requesting the extradition of Hasina. New Delhi had confirmed receipt of the formal diplomatic note but did not comment further.
Yunus’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, in a statement on social media, said, “We now urge the Republic of India to act with conscience and moral clarity.” “For too long, India has refused to comply with Bangladesh’s lawful request for the extradition of Sheikh Hasina," he said.
Describing India’s stance as “no longer tenable”, Alam said neither regional friendship, strategic considerations, nor political legacy could justify “the deliberate murder of civilians”.
The statement came a day after BBC Bangla Service carried a report, based on a leaked phone call, suggesting Hasina had ordered security forces to “shoot” protesting students during last year's mass uprising.
Alam said, “The BBC Eye Investigations unit has now confirmed Hasina's direct role in ‘state-sanctioned’ murder,” and when a global institution like the BBC “commits its full investigative resources to uncovering crimes in Bangladesh”, the international community must take note.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal-1 has set July 10 to decide whether charges will be framed against Hasina and two of her top aides.
On Wednesday last week, Hasina was sentenced to six months in prison in absentia in a contempt of court case by the ICT.
It marks the first time that the 77-year-old Awami League leader has been sentenced in any case since she left office in August last year.
According to a UN rights office report, up to 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year as Hasina's government ordered a security crackdown on protesters.
Most leaders of the Awami League and ministers and several officials of the past regime were arrested or were on the run at home and abroad as the interim government initiated their trial for brutal actions to tame the uprising last year, which led to the toppling of the nearly 16-year Awami League regime on August 5 and forced Hasina to leave the country for India.
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