Bangladesh on Wednesday summoned India’s deputy high commissioner in Dhaka, Pawan Badhe, accusing New Delhi of giving safe passage and a public platform to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who faces multiple criminal cases back home.
Hasina, 78, was forced out of power in August last year after weeks of violent, student-led protests that toppled her government. She fled Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, and has been living in India since.
Her supporters insist the charges against her are politically motivated, while the interim administration in Dhaka calls her a fugitive.
“The foreign ministry today summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner Pawan Badhe to formally convey Bangladesh's serious concern over the Indian government allowing absconding premier Sheikh Hasina to interact with the mainstream Indian media,” the state-run BSS news agency reported, quoting a senior diplomatic source.
The move follows a series of high-profile interviews Hasina has given to Indian and international media in recent days, appearances that Dhaka says amount to granting a fugitive political legitimacy.
The Indian envoy was asked to relay Bangladesh’s demand that New Delhi “immediately discontinue Hasina’s access to the media.” In response, India reportedly told Dhaka that “the media is free in India and the government does not influence it.”
Unmoved, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry described Hasina’s visibility in Indian media as an affront to its judicial process.
“Harbouring such a fugitive currently under trial for committing crimes against humanity and granting her a platform to spew hatred and advocate terrorist acts inside Bangladesh are unhelpful to fostering a constructive bilateral relationship between the two countries,” the agency quoted officials as saying.
From her undisclosed location in India, Hasina hit back.
In an email interview to PTI, she said her return home depends on the restoration of “participatory democracy,” lifting of the ban on the Awami League, and the holding of “free, fair and inclusive elections.”
She accused the unelected Yunus administration of “endangering ties with India and empowering extremist forces.”
Defending her tenure and foreign policy, she said the “broad and deep” relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi should be able to withstand the “foolhardiness of the Yunus interlude.”