Skip to main content

Bangladesh asks India to clarify stance on ousted PM Hasina's planned speech in New Delhi

Bangladesh has asked India to clarify its stance on exiled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s planned virtual address from New Delhi, warning that allowing political activities by a fugitive could hurt improving bilateral relations.

The remarks were Bangladesh’s first official response to Hasina’s planned appearance at an August 5 event hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi, marking the second anniversary of the student-led uprising that toppled her government.

The issue comes as Dhaka continues to seek Hasina’s extradition from India, where she has lived since fleeing Bangladesh in August 2024.

Despite multiple cases against her, Hasina told Reuters in an interview that she plans to return to Bangladesh in December.

“We are moving forward with India with a forward-looking approach. We don’t want that progress to be affected,” Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam told reporters late on Monday.

“India has to be clear about its stance.”

The FCCSA said Hasina, 78, will address the New Delhi event by video link alongside her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and other speakers. The club did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Bangladesh government concerns.

Islam said Bangladesh had repeatedly conveyed its concerns to India over Hasina and other Awami League leaders making political statements from Indian soil.

“We do not want India-Bangladesh relations to be harmed by statements from fugitive accused individuals,” she said, adding that India had previously indicated it did not expect fugitives to engage in political activities from its territory.

While stressing that the event was not organised by the Indian government, Islam said Dhaka would raise the matter through diplomatic channels if necessary.

There was no immediate response from the Indian foreign ministry.

Relations between the neighbours have been strained since Hasina’s removal from power, although both sides have recently signalled a willingness to rebuild ties through greater engagement and cooperation since Tarique Rahman’s government took office after February’s election.

Hasina has remained in India since her government was overthrown after weeks of deadly protests. Bangladesh has since sought her extradition, and in 2025 she was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown, which the United Nations estimated killed up to 1,400 people. Hasina has rejected the verdict as legally void.



from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/ifmM97Q
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ailing Pope Francis to embark on Asia trip, his longest ever, in September

Pope Francis will travel to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore from September 2-13, the Vatican said on Friday, announcing his first overseas trip of the year and the longest of his 11-year papacy. The Asia trip has been on the papal agenda for some time, but there had been doubts on whether the 87-year-old pontiff would embark on it given his increasing frailty, with a record of skipping engagements due to health problems. His last international journey was a two-day stay in Marseille, France in September. In November, he pulled out of a trip to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai because of a lung inflammation . Francis is now scheduled to be in Jakarta between Sept 3-6, Port Moresby and Vanimo between Sept 6-9, Dili September. 9-11 and Singapore Sept 11-13, his spokesman said in a statement. Vietnam, which had been suggested by the pope and Vatican officials as a possible further destination during the nearly two-week long Asia trip, was not mentioned. In ...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘A war out there’: Maple Leafs survive shootout thriller in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Whew. They needed this one, even if they didn’t wholly deserve it. For a Monday night in Salt Lake City, the stakes felt unusually high for the sagging, road-weary Toronto Maple Leafs .  Heading into their inaugural game at Delta Center, the Leafs had dropped three straight, blown a couple leads, slipped out of first place, and  distracted  the fan base by propositioning their best player with a trade.  Worse: Their process hasn’t been tight for a couple weeks. Mistakes have crept in. Speed is giving their defence issues. And their razor-sharp goaltenders have begun to look human. Head coach Craig Berube held an intense team meeting Sunday, following Saturday’s 7-4 outclassing in Denver. Multiple players spoke up. Captain Auston Matthews said they’d reached look-in-the-mirror time. “The really bad games have a good way of being the biggest learning experiences,” thoughtful goaltender Joseph Woll said, following Monday’s slump-snuffing, nail-b...
Post a Comment
Read more

A diary of (near) default - 2023 was a year of economic uncertainty in Pakistan

Despite having little in common, even our political parties could agree on one thing: Pakistan’s economic situation was dire in 2023. The year saw Pakistan go through a long and rocky road to finding some semblance of economic stability — if it can even be called that — while weathering political and social turmoil. Pakistanis also experienced a double whammy this year: the one-two punches of the worst economic crisis in decades and all-time high inflation. Add to that the gut punch of the aftermath of the catastrophic floods of 2022 began to settle in. Flood victims receive boiled rice from relief workers, after taking refuge on a motorway, following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Charsadda, Pakistan on August 27, 2022 — Reuters In 2023, according to the World Bank , over 39.4 per cent of the population fell below the poverty line, which means over 12.5 million people are living in meagre conditions. Additionally, 8.5 million people face acute food insecurity due ...
Post a Comment
Read more