Ms Hasina has been convicted in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal that had been set up during her regime to try Pakistani war criminals and their Bangladeshi collaborators
Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, daughter of the liberator of the country from Pakistan rule, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and one of her close aides Azaduzzaman Khan Kamal have been sentenced to death. She will face the gallows only in the unlikely event of India ever asking her to leave the haven and her even more unlikely return to Dhaka.
Ms Hasina has been convicted in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal that had been set up during her regime to try Pakistani war criminals and their Bangladeshi collaborators. The way in which it conducted the trial in the time of an interim government was more in the manner of a kangaroo court, bending to the will of a government whose very legitimacy is in question as its chief adviser Muhammad Yunus was “airdropped” in Dhaka by certain backers in the US.
Ms Hasina strenuously denied the charges on which she has been sentenced while denouncing a clearly motivated trial by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate”,
Since the power of street demonstrations has often defined the politics of Dhaka, it may have been all too easy for elements other than disgruntled students to let it snowball into a regime change. And all Sheikh Hasina’s law and order machinery may have been doing was to keep the public peace rather than commit crimes against humanity.
India will be more than justified in ignoring any request for extradition even if it comes from a duly elected and properly constituted government as the legitimacy of the polls, scheduled for February 2026 from which the Awami League is being excluded, will still be in doubt. It is not that Ms Hasina was not guilty of keeping the Opposition out of national polls, but she had earned praise all around for her efforts to keep her country with a restive history together in her 15 years at the helm.
Ms Hasina cannot be allowed to become another victim of the bloodlust of nations in the region that have sent leaders to the gallows or seen military coups depose them. She was fortunate in that the Army generals allowed her to leave Dhaka hurriedly when student protests backed by religious fundamentalists broke out in July 2024 and soon became unmanageably bloodcurdling in its violence.
India may have to pay a price for its humanitarian gesture in shielding Sheikh Hasina from some of her countrymen who are now systematically dismantling Sheikh Mujibur’s legacy while also setting up a witch hunt for her. What should have been a distinctly Bangladeshi problem in the wake of Sheikh Hasina’s departure may have dragged India into it since geographical contiguity made it the easiest country to get to when she fled.
The government of Md Yunus has come under fire too from human rights organisations that are accusing him of using antiterrorism laws to tamp down on criticism and authorising witch hunts against leaders of the discredited Awami League. The administration in Dhaka, which has made it a hobby to bait India at every turn, may be ready to use the Hasina extradition card to further fan the flames of hate against India, which must be prepared now to fight terror plots, however sinister they are as seen in recent threats, on more than one front.
