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Bangladesh’s interim authorities has requested India to return exiled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to face authorized proceedings, a request more likely to heighten tensions between Dhaka and New Delhi.
A Bangladeshi home felony tribunal in October issued arrest warrants in opposition to Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after being toppled by student-led protests in August, and greater than 40 others.
A spokesperson for Bangladesh’s overseas ministry stated it despatched a diplomatic notice to India’s authorities on Monday requesting the return of Sheikh Hasina, who stays in New Delhi, so she may face a “judicial course of”.
The Bangladeshi tribunal accused the authoritarian former prime minister of orchestrating massacres and “crimes in opposition to humanity” throughout the protests that result in her ousting, through which lots of of persons are thought to have died. Sheikh Hasina has denied the allegations.
The diplomatic request will gas tensions between New Delhi and Dhaka simply weeks after India’s overseas secretary visited Bangladesh to attempt to mend relations between the 2 neighbours.
A spokesperson for India’s overseas ministry confirmed it had acquired a “notice verbale from the Bangladesh Excessive Fee in the present day in reference to an extradition request”, however declined to remark additional.
Sheikh Hasina’s dramatic toppling roused suspicion and concern in New Delhi, which has traditionally supported her Awami League, Bangladesh’s oldest and largest political get together.
Rivals and rights teams have accused the Awami League of extrajudicial killings, bending state establishments to its whim and rigging elections. Many Indian officers consider the set up of Bangladesh’s caretaker chief, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, was the results of a US-backed regime change.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has additionally raised considerations concerning the security of minority Hindus in its Muslim-majority neighbour. Yunus has acknowledged restricted incidents of violence in opposition to Hindus, although human rights teams haven’t confirmed any mass atrocities.
Yunus informed the Monetary Instances in October his authorities wouldn’t ask for Sheikh Hasina’s extradition from its dominant south Asian neighbour till a verdict had been reached by the investigative tribunal, which final week prolonged the deadline for its probe into February.
However final month, Yunus known as for her return following the arrest of dozens of former Bangladesh authorities officers and regime associates. In an deal with he stated: “We are going to search the extradition of the ousted autocrat from India.”
Whereas Sheikh Hasina has not been seen in public since she left Bangladesh, she made a broadcast deal with earlier this month accusing Yunus, with whom she has lengthy feuded, of being the “mastermind” behind the violence and her elimination. The Awami League additionally claims his interim authorities has “weaponised” the nation’s establishments in opposition to them.
Sheikh Hasina denied she had ordered safety forces to make use of deadly pressure in opposition to protesters and claimed the allegations in opposition to her have been “false propaganda” and a part of a “conspiracy in opposition to us to push us out of energy”.
Her son Sajeeb Wazed, who has additionally beforehand denied any wrongdoing by his mom, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
A excessive court docket in Bangladesh earlier this month additionally ordered an investigation in opposition to Sheikh Hasina and her niece Tulip Siddiq, a UK Treasury minister, after their household was accused of embezzling $5bn. A UK authorities spokesperson has stated Siddiq denies “any involvement within the allegations”.
