Former Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina, in her first telephonic interview with Indian media, has questioned the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government’s move to link her extradition to a possible visit to New Delhi by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, pointing out that she intends to return home on her own by December.
The 78-year-old Awami League chief, who has been in self-exile in India since the collapse of her government in August 2024 following student-led protests, pointed to what she said was the hypocrisy of the Tarique Rahman government opposing her virtual news conference from India by noting that Rahman had himself participated in virtual meetings of the BNP from London after giving an undertaking that he wouldn’t participate in politics while living in Britain.
“I am going back to my own country, I don’t understand why he [Rahman] is objecting to that. They are talking about the extradition treaty, I want to go back on my own to my country. I will go back. Can I stay abroad my whole life? I have to return to my country, to my own people,” she said, speaking mostly in Bengali.
“India-Bangladesh relations are not damaged by truth. They are damaged when democracy is destroyed, extremism is allowed to rise, minorities feel unsafe, regional security is put at risk, and state institutions are used for political revenge,” she said.
Hasina’s presence in the country has re-emerged as a key irritant in bilateral ties, especially after her virtual news conference from New Delhi on August 5. India and Bangladesh were, at the time, engaged in consultations on a possible visit by Rahman to New Delhi, and Dhaka said Hasina’s event had vitiated this process. The Bangladesh side also made Hasina’s extradition a condition for the visit.
India has invited Rahman for both a bilateral visit and to attend the outreach session of the upcoming Brics Summit. There has been no formal word from Dhaka on whether it will accept these invitations.
Hasina also questioned the BNP government’s move to finalised a deal reportedly worth $2.3 billion to acquire combat jets from China at a time when Bangladesh is grappling with electricity and gas shortages and a cost of living crisis.
“In such difficult circumstances, why this indulgence of acquiring fighter jets? That is also my question. But you should also ask this to the BNP government,” she said.
Hasina reiterated her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s warning that Bangladesh is becoming “another Pakistan”, and said: “The UN Security Council’s monitoring mechanism has raised concerns that al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent may be trying to use Bangladesh to establish terrorist cells. Local investigations are also pointing to the same danger.”
