India Irks Bangladesh for Extension of Visa to Sheikh Hasina

SALEEM SAMAD

India seems to have deliberately extended the visa of Sheikh Hasina, to a former democratically elected autocratic prime minister to stay comfy at a two-room safe house in a military base at Delhi.

A reputed Delhi-based Hindustan Times writes that extending the visa for another six months is unprecedented. This has annoyed the five-month-old Interim Government of Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

The news was another dent amid growing tension between the two countries after the fall of Hasina in early August last year. She fled to India after a bloody student uprising. India seems uncomfortable providing asylum and its relationship with neighboring countries has turned from sweet to sour.

Officials close to the Chief Advisor’s (Yunus) office said they did not expect but were not surprised that Delhi offered Hasina to live in exile, amid a call for her extradition.

Dhaka has officially asked Delhi through diplomatic channels to extradite Hasina to face the music of justice for committing crimes against humanity. She has been accused of ordering law enforcement to shoot and kill unarmed students and protesters during the bloody Monsoon Revolution last year July-August.

The gesture confirms that India is unwilling to extradite Hasina. Indian media is harping that she is unlikely to get a fair trial if she stands on the dock for crimes of putting to deaths of hundreds of protesters.

An official, who requested to remain anonymous, as the person is not authorized to speak to journalists, said the latest decision to extend the visa gives a strong message.

The message was loud and clear that India does not wish to normalize the bilateral relations with its neighbor, which has a shared history of and common heritage originating from the Bengal (West Bengal became an Indian state and East Bengal became Bangladesh) region, linguistic and cultural ties, passion for music, literature and the arts.

The half a century of trade, commerce, regional infrastructure development, transit, and people-to-people contacts will fall flat. The gesture confirms that India is unwilling to extradite Hasina.

Unfortunately, India could not reconcile the fact that Hasina is no longer at the helm of Bangladesh's affairs. Political observers here argue that South Block in New Delhi foolishly kept all its eggs in Hasina's basket. Such actions contradict ancient India’s visionary strategist Chanakya’s wisdom on war and peace with the neighboring states.

Political stalwarts among the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) do not believe that Hasina is a ‘spent fuel’ and cannot be replenished or recharged to lead the new population of 51 million Gen-Z in a country of 174 million.

Thousands of Gen-Z, students from college and university students in the capital and countryside sparked the revolt which forced the Awami League despots from power to crumble.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), despite several attempts to unseat Hasina through violent anti-government movements in the last 15 years, miserably failed. They could not dent the invincible Hasina regime.

Delhi failed to acknowledge the Monsoon Revolution which killed more than a thousand students and protesters in police firing and armed vigilantes recruited from Awami League’s student and youth organizations which clashed with students on the educational campuses.

Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said he has a feeling if Hasina is brought back from India, the country will plunge into chaos and the distraught Interim Government will be overwhelmed.

Thousands of students and protesters would march the streets of the capital and elsewhere demanding Hasina to be punished immediately. Many journalists covering politics echoed with Ahmad that the presence of Hasina in the safest custody would turn into political pressure for the Yunus administration.

India despite being the largest functional democratic nation, accepted Hasina’s flawed elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 sans the participation of the mainstream opposition.

Delhi was conspicuously silent when appalling human rights violations were being committed, including extra-judicial deaths, enforced disappearances and confinement of political opposition, critics and dissidents in secret prisons by security agencies.

With credible investigations, the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have exposed the dark era of Hasina’s regime. It was picked up by international media, including several independent Indian media. The political language of India did not change.

The media was another soft sector and was throttled by draconian cybercrime laws. Many journalists were arrested and tortured which was reported by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Hasina’s government refused to probe into the allegations of enforced disappearance, secret prisons and extra-judicial deaths after several requests by the United Nations, European Union and other Western countries.

The former government instead blamed the BNP and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami for orchestrating the propaganda to tarnish the image of her regime. All through her tyrannical rule, India never raised questions nor was Hasina given any advice to act as a benevolent dictator.

Earlier, Prof Yunus urged India to ensure that Hasina remains quiet and not give sermons through social media which is being amplified by her loyalists living in the West. First ever India-Bangladesh Foreign Secretary-level meeting was held at Dhaka, which is believed to have melted some ice.

Prof Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will likely meet in November on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit in Thailand.

BIMSTEC is India's brainchild to avoid SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and bypass Pakistan for regional cooperation.

Until Yunus meets Modi at the end of the year nothing tangible could be achieved from the biggest neighbor India on bilateral relations and regional cooperation.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 09 January 2025

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ Testament Fails Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

Ancient India’s visionary strategist Chanakya gave six-fold policy deals on war and peace with the neighboring states, how a king should assess his power, and what actions he needed to take to deal with the states.

Nearly 2316 years ago, the Indian philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor professed diplomatic principles that still have relevance in modern diplomacy.

Chanakya who lived around 300 BCE was a key figure in the establishment of the glorious Mauryan Empire and is known for writing Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on politics and economics.

Unfortunately, the South Block in New Delhi is manned by chosen blue-eyed civil officers who inherited the legacy of the British Raj instead of the marvel of Chanakya’s diplomacy.

South Block in New Delhi houses the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and the Ministry of Defense.

India had invested heavily in her continued hegemony among the neighbors, which has adopted a much trumped-up policy of ‘Neighborhood First’.

Earlier Delhi pursued the ‘Look East Policy’ to yield positive results in the region and Bangladesh and several South Asian countries were partners in progress and economic development.

Not to be misunderstood for the ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, but the Hindutava (an ideology or movement seeking to establish Hinduism and Hindu culture as dominant in India) pursued by the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has irked most South Asian nations.

Presently India’s relationships with neighbors are blowing hot and cold. Some countries have developed love and hate with India after arch-enemy China made a dent in the region with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) mega projects, especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Bangladesh. Now those countries are on the fresh list of disapproval by the helms of affairs in Delhi’s South Block.

Bangladesh on the diplomatic front is the opening batsman in a bid to bring to life the weakened SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). Bangladesh is expecting the SAARC foreign secretary-level meeting will be held soon, which has been halted for the last 10 years.The SAARC summit has also stalled for 10 years, because of the India-Pakistan conflicts.

“SAARC appears dead but it should not be buried,” Touhid Hossain, a Bangladesh Adviser for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remarked. The regional cooperation was extremely important for improving trade and economy and reducing poverty in the South Asian region, the adviser said.

Yunus told the New Age, “India is not responding seriously. Indians explain that they have problems with Pakistan.” The bone of contention between Bangladesh and India is centered around Hasina, who is living in exile near Delhi.

Bangladesh has formally asked India to extradite deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the MEA spokesperson refused to make any statement on Dhaka’s request when Indian journalists asked for a comment.

Now it seems that Delhi will remain silent on the issue of extradition. Both countries signed a treaty in 2013 and amended it in 2016. The treaty was signed to deport northeast India’s separatist leaders harbored in Bangladesh.

Similarly, two fugitive military officers indicted for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence hero were hiding in India. Yunus told editor Kabir that if India does not officially respond to the extradition of Hasina, Dhaka will make a follow-up request after a month with Delhi.

Dhaka has repeatedly requested Delhi to ensure that Hasina remains quiet and refrain from making fiery political speeches over the phone to her loyalists, which often emerges in social media.

Most of the central leaders of Hasina’s Awami League have fled to India through clandestine routes. Many have taken refuge in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and other destinations.

Those who couldn’t escape have been arrested. They were accused of the deaths of students and protesters. The political prisoners are languishing in prison without bail for the last four months.

Last week, Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman in separate media engagements have extended an olive branch to restore the bilateral relations with India.

General Waker, who is described by senior officers as a professional soldier in an interview with editor Matiur Rahman of Prothom Alo, the largest Bangla newspaper said that India is an important neighbor.

“We are dependent on India in many ways. And India is getting facilities from us too. A large number of their people are working in Bangladesh, formally and informally…So India has a lot of interest in Bangladesh’s stability,” he observed.

“This is a give-and-take relationship….We have to maintain good relations based on equality. The people in no way should feel India is dominating over us, which goes against our interests,” the COAS.

Waker is incidentally the husband of Sheikh Hasina’s cousin and last June was made COAS. He was a hard nut in negotiating with Hasina to quit and flee to India on 5 August last year.

On the other hand, the Foreign Advisor on the eve of New Year suggested that Bangladesh maintain “balanced relations” with India, China, and the United States, as all three nations hold “strategic importance” for the country.

Relations between Bangladesh and India have to be built on the basis of sovereignty, mutual interest, and dignity as the dimension and equation of Bangladesh’s relation with India have changed after 5 August, noted Hossain.

On the other hand, Indian news media NDTV, CNN-IBN News18, Times Now, Republic TV and several other media outlets have been amplifying fake stories that General Waker has ceased power from Hasina. The Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus is a façade (stooge) and the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami is dominating the Interim Government.

Prof Yunus in an interview with the New Age editor Nurul Kabir expressed his frustration over Indian media spreading concocted stories on Bangladesh and even described the Interim Government as an Islamist regime.

The Indian media along with the central leaders, as well as the state Chief Ministers of BJP have demonized Bangladesh for revenge attacks upon the 13 million Hindus and held Yunus responsible for the atrocities in the country.

“When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me and alleged that the religious minority community was being persecuted here in Bangladesh, I told him that the narrative was an exaggerated one,” Yunus said in an interview with the anti-establishment newspaper.

Hossain said that the role played by Indian media was not at all conducive to establishing normal relations between the two countries.

Indian media, academicians, and political stalwarts are forgetting that the territory that is now Bangladesh was thrice partitioned. The British Raj partitioned in 1905 and 1947 to create Pakistan based on a Muslim-majority region in India. The third partition was in 1971, when it finally bifurcated from Pakistan after rejecting the Two-Nation theory, said political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad.

India must accept the political reality that Hasina has gone for now and must condemn the wanton deaths of more than a thousand students and protesters during the July-August so-called Monsoon Revolution, said Ahmad.

Historian Mohiuddin Ahmad concluded that unless Delhi recognizes the bloody student revolution that ousted the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina and gives hope on extradition, bilateral relations will continue to limp, which will severely affect regional cooperation (SAARC).

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 5 January 2025

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

India’s Pessimism Threatens Historic Ties with Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

India’s current political maneuvers, particularly those involving religious factors, are akin to pouring cold water on a relationship that has endured for over half a century. Such actions risk tarnishing the two nations’ deep-rooted historical, cultural, and mutual respect.

It’s crucial to recognize that India and Bangladesh have shared a resilient relationship that has weathered many hiccups over the last fifty years. However, recent political maneuvers in India, particularly those influenced by religious factors, create tensions that could undermine this precious bond.

In India, a wave of negativity has emerged, fueled not only by certain media outlets but also by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which champions the Hindutva ideology.

The rhetoric challenges the legitimacy of the Interim Government headed by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, who has promised to hold free and fair parliamentary elections in early 2026.

As Prof Yunus stated, “The Bangladesh-India relationship is deep and multifaceted. We can have our differences but that cannot define it.” Delhi is reluctant to engage positively with the new government after Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime has fallen and fled to India.

The narrative being propagated suggests that Yunus has strayed from Bangladesh’s secular premises, leaving the door ajar to radicalized Muslims that have unfortunately perpetrated violence against the Hindu community, vandalizing Hindu business establishments and desecrating temples.

The Godi Media, a term used to describe sensationalist and biased Indian print and TV news media, has been instrumental in perpetuating this misinformation.

They have broadcasted/posted several fake videos showing attacks on Hindus and the killing of scores of Hindus, further exacerbating the tensions. The Godi Media described the religious tensions as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”, which is far from the accepted definition by academics.

Despite the diligent efforts of fact-checkers in both Bangladesh and India, including the BBC, has debunked these fabrications, the negative portrayal of Bangladesh continues. But that did not stop or even slow down the tirade of stories demonizing Bangladesh.

An investigation by fact-checker Rumor Scanner identified 13 misleading reports published by Indian media between August and December following the collapse of the Awami League government.

According to Rumor Scanner, 49 media outlets, including well-known names such as the Republic Bangla, Hindustan Times, Zee News, Live Mint, Republic TV, India Today, ABP Anand, and Aaj Tak, were implicated in spreading this inaccurate information.

Alarmingly, the analysis further revealed that a staggering 72% of social media accounts based in India are engaged in spreading misleading narratives about Bangladesh.

Editor Mahfuz Anam of the influential English newspaper The Daily Star writes that a powerful section of the Indian media has shifted into the “reprimand” mode, with some even suggesting “punishment.” Much of the social media discourse seems to support this.

The Indian media’s coverage appears to be driven by concern solely for Hindus of Bangladesh, rather than the people of Bangladesh, remarks Anam.

New Delhi’s South Block has weaponized the Hindu atrocities in Bangladesh to hide their diplomatic debacle for putting all eggs in one basket in the hand of their blue-eyed Sheikh Hasina.

It is undeniable that the religious and ethnic communities in Bangladesh were victims of persecution, atrocities, vandalism of business establishments and desecration of religious prayer halls, including Hindu temples, Christian churches, Buddhist pagodas and also Ahmadiyya Muslim mosques.

The sectarian persecution and violence in Bangladesh, it is essential to contextualize these events within the historical legacy of injustice that has plagued the region.

Since Bangladesh’s independence, perpetrators of religiously motivated violence have evaded accountability. There is no denying that such attacks on religious communities are a legacy of perpetrators enjoying impunity.

None of the perpetrators faced the music of justice since 1972 when independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned from imprisonment in Pakistan.

This silence in holding aggressors accountable for sectarian violence has perpetuated a cycle of impunity that continues to impact communities today.

Durga Puja is a sacred religious festival of the Hindus of Bengal (historically, Bangladesh was known as East Bengal). It dampened the spirit of the newly independent Bangladesh of millions of Hindus, secularists, advocates of pluralism, and liberal Muslims alike.

Even under the despotic leadership of Sheikh Hasina, calls for accountability have often gone unheard. Many Hindus in Bangladesh, who have historically supported the Awami League, feel disillusioned by the lack of action taken against those responsible for religious violence.

The perception persists that the ruling party, rather than protecting extremism, has allowed perpetrators to go unpunished. Instead, she blamed Islamist parties and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for the sectarian violence.

Rana Dasgupta, a former General Secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Christian Buddhist Unity Council, noted the unfortunate reality that some grassroots leaders of the Awami League were found in the company of rioters during incidents of violence.

At a press conference in Chattagram (formerly Chittagong), his organization lamented the political leadership’s failure to safeguard Hindu temples and communities during crucial festivals.

Despite these challenges, it’s vital to recognize the diversity that exists within Bangladesh, where nearly 9% of the population identifies as Hindu, alongside smaller communities of Buddhists, Christians, and others within a predominantly Sunni Muslim landscape.

Each year, civil society groups, human rights advocates, and concerned citizens reflect on how they can uphold secularism and pluralism principles essential for a collective future. According to Ain O Salish Kendra, a Bangladeshi human rights organization, at least 3,600 similar attacks have occurred in Bangladesh between 2013 and 2021.

Such violence had prompted Prof Robaet Ferdous of Dhaka University, an outspoken defender of religious freedom, to say, “It’s not a failure of the local administration, police or the ruling party to protect the Hindus, but I see the collapse of the society during a national crisis, which contradicts the legacy of the glorious liberation war in 1971 which promised to establish secularism, pluralism, and freedom of expression in Bangladesh.”

According to Rana Dasgupta, “… a culture of impunity has been created in Bangladesh for attacks on Hindus. Those involved in these attacks have never been prosecuted, and as a result, it continues….”

India’s conspicuous silence over the atrocities, persecution, and vandalism against Hindus and other religious communities during the 15 years of Hasina’s era has been ignored.

The South Block, which looks after the Indian foreign policy in New Delhi, probably did not want to embarrass Sheikh Hasina when the sectarian violence was prominently published in mainstream media and human rights groups identified her Awami League, which she inherited from her father, Sheikh Mujib was the prime accused.

India, despite having a functional democracy and pluralism, never advised Hasina to hold an inclusive, free, fair, and credible election. Delhi’s indulgence has encouraged Hasina to grow into a Frankenstein and dare to rig the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections, angered the West and the core reason for voters’ outrage with her regime.

Reelected for the third consecutive term through holding sham elections, she instead received feathers on her hat and congratulatory messages from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Hefazat-e-Islam, launched in 2010 to “protect Islam”, was spurred particularly by a proposed policy to confer equal inheritance rights to women and women’s empowerment, which is lauded in international media and the United Nations.

During her tenure (2009-2024), she placed the radicalized Islamic organization Hefazat-e-Islam on her lap to defuse their anger against women’s empowerment and women’s rights.

Despite protests from secularists and civil society, her government consciously amended the school textbooks with an Islamic coating. Based on the musical tunes of the Madrassa (Qawmi Islamic schools), the network introduced Islamic culture and tradition into the secular fabric of the society.

She kept the Hefazat in good humor in a bid to shield her authoritarian regime from the dreaded Islamists and jihadists outfits – Jamaat-e-Islami, outlawed Harkatul Jihad al Islam (HuJI), Hizb ut-Tahrir and other fringe outfits.

Bangladesh’s acclaimed political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said the appeasement of Hasina was never to hurt her counterpart Modi by mentioning that the rights of the Dalits (low caste Hindus), Christians, Muslims and ethnic communities also impact Bangladesh.

Not surprisingly, the South Block’s so-called Look East Policy has placed Bangladesh as a delinquent state like that of Pakistan, said Ahmad. India arbitrarily stopped issuing visas to Bangladesh nationals after Hasina’s fall in early August, citing security reasons.

Bangladesh’s number of tourists and visitors to India was 2.12 million in 2023. The figure has dwindled to less than half and will decline when many Bangladesh multiple visas expire in December.

The non-issuance of visas has caused tension among Bangladesh nationals who regularly visit India for medical purposes. Some go on pilgrimage to Ajmer and other holy sites. A significant percentage of people visit India for business and pleasure.

The visa restrictions have stopped direct buses from Dhaka to Kolkata and Dhaka to Agartala. Direct train services from Dhaka to Kolkata, Dhaka to Siliguri, and Khulna-Kolkata have also reached a screeching halt. Similarly, both Bangladesh and Indian airlines have reduced flights by one-third in the absence of passengers who failed to avail of Indian visas.

Ahmad said people-to-people contact has been severely hampered due to visa restrictions imposed by India to punish the people of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the Boycott India campaign on social media, which was joined by fringe political parties, melted after Bangladesh planned to import 50,000 tons of rice from India. The Interim Government recently imported eggs, green chilies, onions, and potatoes to stabilize the kitchen market.

On the other hand, India-Bangladesh bilateral trade is lopsided. Bangladesh’s exports are nearly $2 billion, while imports from India as of 2023 stood at $12 billion. This is also a contention with Indian policymakers and Bangladesh’s industrial, manufacturing, and exporters bodies.

As long as India hosts the fugitive Shiekh Hasina, who lives in exile at an official safe house near Delhi, it will be difficult for India-Bangladesh relations to reach a new height.

Unless she is extradited to Bangladesh to face trial for crimes against humanity, the relations will turn from sour to bitter. Fortunately, Bangladesh and India signed an extradition treaty in 2013.

The prestigious Indian Express newspaper argues that “India also has the option of refusing Hasina’s extradition because the accusations against her are not “in good faith in the interests of justice.” However, Delhi’s newspaper realizes the refusal to extradite Hasina may further strain ties between New Delhi and Dhaka.

Well, India has no option left but to take the risk to save Hasina from walking to the gallows for crimes for ordering the law enforcement agencies to shoot and kill hundreds of students and protesters during the July-August Monsoon Revolution, says former Ambassador Humayun Kabir, who served as a diplomat in India and the United States.

He also said Bangladesh should develop a contingency plan if India decides not to deport her. The government will also have to calculate the risk factor of whether Bangladesh can live without the most prominent neighbor’s fraternity, which had helped achieve the bloody birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, 30 December 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

India’s efforts to thaw the frosty ties with Bangladesh will be difficult

Dr Yunus (R), Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri with Bangladesh counterpart Jashim Uddin.
Photo Collected

SALEEM SAMAD

The much-talked-about India-Bangladesh talks held on 9 December, apparently did not melt the desired amount of ice after the fall of the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina in early August.

In fact, the Foreign Secretary of India, Vikram Misr offers were too little, too less and too late to warm up the strained relations after Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus took oath as Chief Adviser of the Interim Government.

The Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) with his Bangladesh counterpart Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin. The visiting Foreign Secretary highlighted India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh.

“To that end, therefore, I have underlined today India’s desire to work closely with the interim government of Bangladesh authorities,” he said.

Vikram Misri said there is no reason why this mutually beneficial relationship should not continue to develop in the interest of our people.

He said they have always seen in the past and will continue to see in the future the relationship as a people-centric and people-oriented relationship—one that has the benefits of all the people as its central motivational force.

The parleys did not make any proactive decisions regarding the visa regime, which was unilaterally stalled by the Indian government after the sudden change of government. There were no tangible discussions on the resumption of the Dhaka-Agartala, Dhaka-Kolkata bus service, Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Siliguri, and Khulna-Kolkata Maitree trains, which came to a screeching halt.

The non-issuance of visas has also impacted the Dhaka-Delhi, Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Chennai, and Chattogram-Kolkata flights, which have been reduced to one-fourth after the Indian High Commission visa processing centres, except on special cases stopped after 5 August, the day Hasina fled the country.

Regarding issuing Indian visas to Bangladesh nationals, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda briefing the media said Misri has assured that steps would be taken to increase the number of Indian visas for Bangladeshi nationals.

After reading out a written press briefing by Misri, he hurriedly walked away without taking any questions from the journalists, including dozens of Indian journalists presently in town.

Walking away from a press briefing means that the speaker either has something to hide or wants to avoid taking questions, which could be embarrassing for Delhi’s South Block.

The press statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is fully loaded with diplomatic phrases and jargon. It says, Misri reiterated India’s willingness to build a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh, based on mutual trust and respect and mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns and interests.

The Indian Foreign Secretary emphasized that people are the main stakeholders in India-Bangladesh relations, and noted India’s development cooperation and multifaceted engagements with Bangladesh.

The MEA statement mentions that both sides held comprehensive discussions on a wide range of issues covering political and security matters, border management, trade, commerce and connectivity, cooperation in water, power and energy sectors, development cooperation, consular, cultural and people-to-people ties.

The statement does not mention how the people, identified as the main stakeholders in India-Bangladesh relations interaction in the face of India’s blanket ban on visas will continue with people-to-people contact.

Political historian and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad asked, “How will the so-called people-to-people ties will continue? On WhatsApp or social media?”

Ahmad was keenly following the recent development of India-Bangladesh relations, which have dipped to an all-time low in 53 years of all-weather friendship.He said when Indian media sang to the tune of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) advocating Hindutva, an extremist religious-cultural philosophy had embarked upon anti-Bangladesh rhetoric, challenging the legitimacy of Yunus administration, which was tantamount to downgrading the status of the India-Bangladesh ties.

Misri could not assure Bangladesh officials of the means to stop the anti-Bangladesh campaign of the ruling BJP and the Indian media to stabilise the hard-earned friendship, since the brutal birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

About the propaganda being spread by a section of Indian media against Bangladesh, Adviser Rizwana Hasan told journalists that the Indian foreign secretary claimed that the Indian government is not responsible for the anti-Bangladesh campaign and that Delhi does not subscribe to the disparagement against Bangladesh.

The Indian side also claimed that their government did not own the propaganda, the environment adviser added.

The majority of mainstream media picked up sources from fake news floating on social media without fact-checking. Several fact-checkers in India and Bangladesh have debunked scores of fake news, but Indian media has not stopped.

At least 49 Indian media outlets spread fake reports, according to fact-check outfit Rumour Scanner based in Bangladesh.

They are still playing with the Hindu card, terming the attacks on Hindus in the aftermath of the Iron Lady Hasina fleeing the country.

The Indian political leaders, several organisations and television news channels did not hesitate to coin words of ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’, without understanding the academically accepted definition found in textbooks and also in Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Mohiuddin Ahmad, who is a genocide survivor said how will one classify the ethnicity of the Adivasis? Never knew that Hindus are ethnic, he remarked.

Well, Misri aptly raised the concern of religious minorities and urged for their safety, security and welfare. He also raised some regrettable incidents of attacks on cultural, religious and diplomatic properties.

Misri also paid a courtesy call with Dr Yunus, he stressed reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), an inter-governmental organisation that promotes economic, social, and cultural development among Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

SAARC was put into cold storage after India, Bangladesh and Nepal declined to attend the 19th Summit scheduled in Islamabad, Pakistan after a border skirmish in Kashmir.

The two officials during their parley, also exchanged views on sub-regional, regional and multilateral issues, and agreed to enhance consultations and cooperation to advance regional integration, including under the BIMSTEC framework. Misri did not mention SAARC, except nodding his head while speaking to Dr Yunus.

Misri will be the second senior-most Indian official to have met Dr Yunus, after the Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma met the inventor of micro-credit Dr Yunus days after he took oath on 8 August.

After the parley with the Yunus, Rizwana Hasan briefing the journalists said India is eager to clear the cloud formed in the sky over Bangladesh and India relations after the ouster of the Hasina government.

There was no comment regarding, India recognising the Monsoon Revolution, the student uprising which ousted the autocratic Hasina regime.

He concluded that the discussions have allowed both the countries to take stock of the relations, and appreciates the opportunity in holding the meeting to have had a frank, candid and constructive exchange of views with all my interlocutors.

First published in the International Affairs Review, New Delhi, India on 11 December 2024 

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

How will Delhi react to Sheikh Hasina’s arrest warrant?

SALEEM SAMAD 

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh has issued a warrant of arrest against the Iron Lady Sheikh Hasina to surrender by November 18.

Her autocratic regime collapsed on August 5 after a 36-day-long countrywide student-led bloody Monsoon Revolution, which killed more than 700 students and protesters.

The cases against Hasina have held her responsible for the deaths of hundreds of students and protesters in the anti-government street demonstration, which turned violent.

When she announced that the doors of Gonobhaban, the official residence of the Prime Minister were open for the student leaders, it was too late and too little.

Instead of negotiating with the student protesters, she ordered the police to shoot, kill and detain protesters. More than 10,000 protesters were bundled in prison vans and taken to magistrate courts accused of terrorism.

The ICT was established in Hasina’s tenure for the trial of those who have committed crimes against humanity during the brutal birth of Bangladesh in the 1971 liberation war.

The majority of the indicted persons were Islamist political leaders, a few police and local village elites. It was believed that political Islam would come to an end after the trial.

Hasina has been squarely blamed for indulging political leaders, party henchmen, and civil and police administration into kleptocracy. All the Prime Minister’s men were involved in money laundering, siphoning money from banks, buying properties in foreign countries, stashing money in off-shore banks and procuring second-country resident permits and dual citizenship after depositing millions of dollars in various countries.

After the ICT has issued a warrant of arrest, it is time to observe how Delhi’s South Block will react to the pressing issue.

International media has already made screaming news of the arrest warrant against Hasina and others. She is presently living in a safe house on the fringes of New Delhi, the capital of India.

She fled Bangladesh on August 5 by a Bangladesh Air Force transport aircraft from Kurmitola Air Force base in Dhaka.

On her arrival, Ajit Doval, the National Security Adviser to the Indian government, met her at the Hindan Air Force Base at Ghaziabad, not far from New Delhi.

No senior officials of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration have met her at the safe house since she arrived more than two months ago.

Her Red Passport, a diplomatic travel document and her Deshi Green Passport, have been revoked by the Interim Government. The United States and several countries in Europe and the United Kingdom have refused her entry.

Meanwhile, even after 73 days, more than two months Hasina’s eldest son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, living in Washington DC, USA, and her daughter Saima Wazed Putul have been unable to meet her.

Saima, who is working in Delhi as Saima Wazed, has been serving as the South East Asian Regional Director for the World Health Organisation (WHO) since November 2023 and lamented in her Twitter (X) that she has not been able to hug her and wrote a strange message that she is too busy in her workplace, series of planning meetings, meeting delegations and visit to several countries.

A high-profile Indian journalist who was with Ajit Doval’s outfit National Security Council, who is privy to the issue and does not wish to be named, said Delhi South Block has unofficially explored possibilities with a few countries for her stay in a third country.

Hasina is literally stranded in India and has nowhere to go. Delhi bigwigs are in dilemma about what should be their next step after India’s friendly countries did not respond to requests.

Well, it is too early for the Indian government to react as they will have to wait and see what is likely to happen after the deadline for appearance at the ICT expires.

Delhi will have to further wait for the verdict against the cases against Hasina to be delivered by the ICT. It is not likely before another year or more, as defence lawyers will appeal to the higher court against the verdict, which will take several additional months.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India, 17 October 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Is Sheikh Hasina’s next destination Russia?

SALEEM SAMAD

Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus met with International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan QC at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week.

Taking to Twitter (X), Karim Khan QC said, “Common visions to strengthen ICC cooperation ensure accountability for crimes committed against the Rohingya.”

ICC in The Hague (Den Haag) is hearing the war crimes and ethnic cleansing committed by Myanmar troops against the Rohingya Muslims after they were declared illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and dubbed as Bengali (meaning they are not Myanmar nationals).

It is not known whether Yunus has discussed ICC’s support for strengthening the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal. The ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been implicated in ‘crimes against humanity’ for the deaths of more than a thousand students and protesters during the Monsoon Revolution in July and early August.

The Interim Government, led by micro-credit inventor Dr Yunus, told audiences in New York that he would like to see former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina be extradited and brought to justice “if she” has committed crimes.

“Why shouldn’t be? If she committed crimes, she should be extradited and brought to justice…She should be facing justice too,” he said while responding to a question at “The New York Times Climate Forward Event”.

Earlier, he reiterated to an Indian media that Delhi should deport Hasina to face the music of justice for the deaths of thousands of protesters in less than 35 days of the Monsoon Revolution.

The number of times Yunus mentions “extradition” of Hasina, South Block in New Delhi is having hiccups. The worrisome seasoned officials and politicians in Delhi have kept their lamps burning regarding the future status of Hasina living in exile at a Safe House at Ghaziabad Hindon Air Base near Delhi.

A high-profile defence correspondent in Delhi said she is in a safe house for security reasons. Indian Intel believes that she has external threats and is forced to live in seclusion.

She is living incommunicado at the air base and unable to meet her daughter Saima Wazed, who has been the South East Asian regional director for the World Health Organisation since 1 November 2023 and is based in New Delhi.

Saima, in her tweet, admitted that she wanted to hug her beloved mother but was unable to do so due to preoccupation and hectic conferences in the South East Asian region. Does anybody believe her excuse?

Similarly, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, despite his best intention to meet his beleaguered mother in Delhi, has not been given diplomatic clearance to arrive in Delhi.

None of the ruling BJP politicians or officials of the Indian government has paid courtesy calls to Hasina, except for Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor of India. He was at the air base when she arrived in Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to meet her. External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, while briefing the all-party meeting, said, “We received a request for a short stay.”

Ousted Hasina has always given the impression that China, Russia and of course India are ‘all-weather friends’ of Bangladesh.

The three countries have always lent their shoulders to Hasina, despite appalling human rights records, fraudulent elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024, money laundering, bank loot, poor accountability of elected rogue politicians and politicisation of democratic institutions.

The time-tested friends unfortunately did not react to the autocratic regime. Delhi, Beijing and Moscow’s silence encouraged Hasina to become an iron lady – a Frankenstein. She has brutally cracked down on opposition, dissidents, critics, journalists and even netizens.

Now that her long stay in India is likely to dent its bilateral, regional and global relationship, Delhi has to find a reasonable argument for not extraditing Hasina to Bangladesh authorities for her trial.

Delhi knows very well that if Hasina faces a politically motivated trial for the deaths of students, the court will hand down the death penalty. The Interim Government will not take any risk in keeping her alive.

However, the trial is not expected soon. The Yunus administration will wait until United Nations Human Rights Commission Chief Volker Türk, who took responsibility for deploying an UN team of experts to probe into the killing of the protesters during the “student revolution”, gets the report from the team.

Bangladesh will have to wait for the UN fact-finding mission to submit its report to begin the much-talked-about trial.

It is very rare for China to give shelter to exiled leaders from other countries. Then it leaves with two other “all-weather friends” – India and Russia.

With Dr Yunus’s hectic parleys with world leaders at UNGA, India read the pulse that it would be difficult to provide a credible excuse not to extradite Hasina.

Thus the best alternative would be to send her to Russia, where she will be safe and secure, several officials of the Indian National Security Council (NSC), who are privy to the issue, have confided with this journalist.

Russia has a history of ignoring international calls for extradition. For India, it will be difficult to absorb diplomatic and international pressure. So the only country for Hasina to live happily ever after would be Russia.

Well, when did Hasina live in Russia? It would be extremely difficult to determine the time. However, the NSC officials guess that the balls will begin to roll when Bangladesh will officially seek her extradition.

A top official in the Chief Advisor’s Office, who declined to be quoted, said it would be too early to comment on what Bangladesh should do if Hasina is shifted to Russia.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 30 September 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad