Staff Reporter:
Bangladesh government yesterday said it was surprised that fugitive Sheikh Hasina, convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity, was allowed to address a public event in New Delhi, calling for the removal of the government and inciting terror to derail the upcoming general elec-tions.
“This clearly endangers Bangladesh’s democratic transition and peace and security,” a Foreign Ministry statement said in Dhaka yesterday.
“Bangladesh is deeply aggrieved that while India is yet to act on her obligations to hand Sheikh Hasina over to Bangladesh under the bilateral extradition agreement despite repeated requests by the Bangladesh Government, she has instead been allowed to make such inciteful pronouncements from its own soil,” read the statement.
Allowing the event in the Indian capital and permitting what it described as hate speech were said to be contrary to the norms of inter-state relations, including respect for sovereignty, non-interference and good neighborliness and constituted a clear affront to the people and the Government of Bangladesh.
“It sets a dangerous precedent vis-a-vis the future of Bangladesh-India relations and may seriously im-pair the ability of the future elected polity in Bangladesh to engage, shape and nurture mutually benefi-cial bilateral relations,” said the statement.
It further said the incitements by the Awami League leadership demonstrated why the Interim Govern-ment had banned the party’s activities
“Bangladesh would hold this outfit responsible for committing incidents of violence and terror in the run up to the elections and on the election day, and will take appropriate actions to foil its evil conspiracies,” said the statement.
On January 23 in New Delhi, the Foreign Ministry said, disposed Hasina openly called for the removal of the Bangladesh government and issued blatant incitements to her party loyalists and general public to carry out acts of terror in order to derail the upcoming general elections in Bangladesh.
