Exiled Sheikh Hasina will stand trial at The Hague, not Dhaka

SALEEM SAMAD

The time has come to acknowledge that Sheikh Hasina, the ousted former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, will not face trial in Dhaka. Instead, the international community will hold her accountable for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

Under the leadership of Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s Interim Government is preparing to initiate legal action against Hasina, awaiting the final report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

This investigation focuses on the tragic deaths of over a thousand students and protesters during the Monsoon Revolution of July and August. Once the OHCHR report is finalised, the Interim Government plans to file a case with the ICC, starting the long process of holding Hasina accountable for her actions.

The idea to pursue international legal action was set into motion in September when Dr. Yunus attended the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. During the summit, he engaged with Volker Türk, the head of OHCHR, and Chief Prosecutor Karim Asad Ahmad Khan. The decision to prosecute Hasina in an international court was made to avoid the controversy of bringing legal proceedings within Bangladesh itself, where political pressures might undermine the pursuit of justice.

Hasina fled Bangladesh just hours before protesters stormed Gono Bhaban, the official Prime Minister’s residence, on August 5. She boarded a Bangladesh Air Force transport aircraft and reached Delhi, where she has been living in exile ever since, in a secured military base near the Indian capital with her sister, Sheikh Rehana.

It was reported that Hasina has applied for asylum in a couple of Western countries. Unfortunately, no country has granted permission. Her choices were London (UK) and Washington DC (US).

She attempted to flee to London, where her sister owns a house, or to Washington DC, where her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy resides. Unfortunately, both countries denied her entry. The US swiftly revoked her 10-year multiple-entry visa, and the British government did not respond to her request. European nations were equally unyielding in offering asylum.

Hasina has lately become an outspoken critic of the U.S., accusing Washington of attempting to secure a military base in Bangladesh in exchange for political support. Washington scoffed off the allegation and said no such proposal was ever given to Dhaka.

India, too, has remained quiet on the matter of Hasina’s asylum. Yet, despite the embarrassment it causes the Indian administration, India has no choice but to provide her with accommodation and security, allowing her to stay in a safe house on a military base. It is a rare instance for India to offer political asylum, and it is clear that Hasina’s stay in India will be a prolonged one.

As the ICC proceedings unfold, the court will eventually seek her extradition to the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity. India, is not a signatory of the ICC, but will have no legal grounds to resist the extradition once the court issues a request. Additionally, India cannot dispute the legitimacy of the OHCHR’s probe, as the ICC will be responsible for carrying out the trial.

Should Hasina be found guilty, she could face a lengthy prison sentence or even life imprisonment in a European jail.

Bangladesh is expected to bring serious charges against her, including widespread human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and the illegal detention of dissidents in secret prisons. However, the ICC is unlikely to pursue charges related to her extensive corruption, nepotism, and favouritism during her autocratic rule.

Despite the impending trial, Hasina will likely go down in history for other reasons. She will be remembered for being the longest-serving female prime minister, as well as for overseeing the deaths of countless students and protesters during the Monsoon Revolution.

The journey of justice is long and uncertain, but it is clear that the international community is determined to hold Hasina accountable for her actions. In the end, it will be at The Hague, not Dhaka, where she will finally face the consequences of her rule.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 2 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: @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

Why the world is silent about persecution in Balochistan?

SALEEM SAMAD

At the onset of the Holy Ramadan month, Muslims all over the world were busy with fasting rituals, and the global protest against the occupation of Balochistan on 27 March 1948 was not heard across the globe.

Balochistan, for 76 years has endured institutionalised persecution and atrocities of Baloch ethnic minorities.

The Baloch people have been living in pain and agony under Pakistan’s occupation. The exiled Baloch has taken to social media @Twitter (now X) to remind that Balochistan was forcibly annexed by Pakistan against the will of the people.

Not much has been written and published in the international press. Not enough voice has been raised at any international forum regarding appalling human rights abuses, missing persons, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial deaths, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by state actors – Pakistan security forces.

Before the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, Balochistan consisted of four princely states under the British Raj – Kalat, Lasbela, Kharan and Makran, which is known as Balochistan. Two of these provinces, Lasbela and Kharan, were fiduciary states placed under Khan of Kalat’s rule by the British, as was Makran which was a district of Kalat.

The rulers of Kalat State first were under the subject of Mughal emperor Akbar in Delhi and after 1839 to the British.

Only three months before the creation of Pakistan (in August 1947), Muhammed Ali Jinnah, and the first Governor-General of Pakistan had negotiated the freedom of Balochistan under Kalat State from the British.

The series of meetings were held between the Viceroy, the British Crown’s representative based in New Delhi, Jinnah and the Khan of Kalat regarding the future relationship with Kalat State and Pakistan.

The parleys ensued in a communiqué, popularly a Standstill Agreement on 11 August 1947, which stated that: The Government of Pakistan recognised Kalat as an independent sovereign state in treaty relations with the British Government with a status different from that of Indian States.

The ruling Muslim League elites of Pakistan led by Jinnah had a change of heart and unilaterally decided to merge Balochistan with the Pakistan Union on 27 March 1948. The hashtag #27MarchBlackDay is viral on social media.

A Baloch journalist Malik Siraj Akbar remarked, “The Black Day in Balochistan is a reminder of the struggle for freedom and justice that continues to this day.”

For decades, exasperated Baloch people have been ferociously protesting the forcible conversion of the Baloch population into a minority in their homeland.

Armed militants of the fiercest Marri and Bugti tribes, waged armed struggles and politically challenged the forcible inclusion of the resource-rich province into Pakistan in March 1948.

Pakistan army forcibly occupied the Balochistan capital Quetta, raided the Amar Palace of Mir Sir Ahmad Yar Khan Ahmedzai, Khan of Kalat, who was also the President of the Council of Rulers for the Balochistan States Union and was forced to sign a document of accession to Pakistan.

In 1958, Pakistan military officer Tikka Khan brutally suppressed the first nationalist movement by the Baloch people and the military commander was dubbed the “Butcher of Balochistan”.

After 23 years, the hawkish Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan was rechristened as “Butcher of Bengal” for his role in the genocide in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

The province is vastly rich in natural resources, including oil, gas, copper, and gold. Despite huge deposits of mineral wealth, Balochistan is one of the poorest regions of Pakistan and also the largest province of Pakistan.

“Balochistan is a rich land with poor people because the state has never invested in its development,” stated Naela Quadri Baloch, an outspoken human rights defender and a senior member of the Balochistan government in exile.

Today the resources are plundered by the Pakistan junta in collaboration with China, in the name game of the mega debt-trap Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was fiercely resisted by the armed Baloch nationalists.

Amnesty International in a report stated that despite several pledges to resolve the country’s crisis of ‘disappearances’, Pakistan’s new civilian government has not yet provided information about hundreds of cases of people believed to be held in secret prisons in undisclosed locations by the military establishment.

International political think tanks say that there is no global support for the Baloch movement for freedom because an independent Balochistan would result in more violence and destabilisation.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

Shahbag Square Thunderous Slogan ‘Joy Bangla'

SALEEM SAMAD

On 5 February 2013, suddenly Shahbagh intersection become lively as thousands of angry and frustrated young people thronged the place to demand maximum punishment of war criminals indicted for war crimes and a crime against humanity during the brutal birth of Bangladesh.

On the tenth anniversary of Gono Jagaron Moncho, remembered for the revival of the war cry of Bangladeshi nationalism ‘Joy Bangla’ was significant. Tens of thousands of young people from all walks of life have turned up to protest the life sentences handed out to Islamists.

The platform for trial and punishment of Bangladesh-born henchmen of occupation Pakistan armed forces imbibed millions of young people despite they were born after the liberation war. They did not forget what the war criminals have committed to their motherland.

Popular belief suggests that Bangladesh is a conservative Sunni Muslim majority. The melee of thousands of young women at the square belies this. The women are there, with children in tow, on their lap or shoulder way past midnight.

The deafening roar of the youths at Shahbag Square, the epicentre of protest in Dhaka, is awe-inspiring. Mainly because over one lakh youth chanted “Joy Bangla” (Long Live Bangladesh) throughout the day and night.

Joy Bangla was the war cry of the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Forces) during the 1971 bloody liberation war.

The Joy Bangla slogan became taboo after the assassination of independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.

“Today I walk in the streets shouting the slogan without fear, prejudice or being bashful,” Shamsuddin Ahmed, journalist and writer tells me. “I haven’t heard that slogan in over 40 years since the country was liberated.”

The revival of the war cry of Bangladeshi nationalism is significant. Young people from all walks of life have turned out in their thousands to protest the life sentences handed out to an Islamist war criminal by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal.

If the tribunal persists, Bangladesh could become the world’s first Muslim nation to bury political Islam once and for all. It is a devil which needs to be contained. And here’s why they were at Shahbag.

The struggle against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was sparked off in its erstwhile eastern province in March 1971. Nine months later, the new nation of Bangladesh emerged, after a bloody gruesome war for millions of Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists and Adivasis alike.

Pakistan’s marauding army with their local henchmen committed genocide, crime against humanity and forced abductions for nine months of the independence war, nearly 4.5 lakh women were victims of rape as a weapon of war, and intellectuals were murdered and abducted.

Bangladesh war historian Prof. Muntasir Mamoon claims genocide of three million people. These were people whose only crime was to believe in the independence of Bangladesh. The marauding Pakistan forces and their henchmen were blamed for the genocide.

The peasants and students fought the elite Pakistan military forces and their auxiliary forces, largely recruited from among the Bangalee Muslim population in the country.

Their spirits were not dampened and we have demanded the trial of these henchmen, collaborators of war crimes. For forty years our voice was not heard. But most underestimated the new generation.

Their thunderous cry is not just audible over Shahbag Square. It echoes over social media, Twitter and Facebook. It is an angry voice demanding justice.

In the Arab Spring, the protests were anti-government. The Arab protester’s objective was to achieve democracy, freedom and justice. In Bangladesh, the scenario is dramatically different.

The protester’s quest is to seek justice for crimes committed in 1971, when Bangladesh, formerly the Eastern province of Pakistan, attained its independence. The crowd listens patiently to the chorus, poetry recitation and brief speeches for hours. Thousands chant slogans repeatedly.

Today Gono Jagaron Moncho which bonded millions of youngsters is a history, despite the controversy and myths around the movement. Forty-two years after its difficult birth, Bangladesh witnessed a rebirth in Shahbag Square.

First published in The News Times, February 5, 2023

Saleem Samad, is an award winning independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad