Security personnel stand guard in Dhaka. Image used for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
| Photo Credit: PTI

Bangladesh’s interim government on Tuesday (January 21, 2025) said it will continue its efforts to bring deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina back from India and will seek international intervention if necessary.

Law Adviser Asif Nazrul told reporters at the Secretariat in Dhaka that if New Delhi refuses to return Ms. Hasina, it would constitute a violation of the extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India, the Daily Star newspaper reported.

Ms. Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League’s (AL) 16-year regime. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide”.

Last year, Dhaka sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi seeking the extradition of Ms. Hasina.

“We have written a letter for extradition. If India does not extradite Sheikh Hasina, it will be a clear violation of the extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India,” Mr. Nazrul said.

In that case, he said, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take necessary steps to address the matter within the international community. The foreign ministry is also making efforts and a red alert has already been issued, the law adviser added.

“We are doing everything we can. The government will continue all efforts to bring Sheikh Hasina back. If necessary, international support will be sought,” Mr. Nazrul said.

Under the provisions of the India-Bangladesh extradition treaty, extradition may be refused if the offence is one of a “political character”.

Another clause said a person convicted of an extradition offence may not be extradited unless the person was sentenced to imprisonment or other form of detention for a period of four months or more.

The relations between India and Bangladesh came under strain after the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus came to power.

India has been expressing concerns over attacks on minorities, especially Hindus, in that country.

In recent weeks, Ms. Hasina has also accused the Yunus-led interim government of perpetrating “genocide” and failing to protect minorities, especially Hindus, since her ouster.

Pedestrians walk past the ‘Adani House’ corporate building in Gurgaon on November 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

India was not informed by the United States government about its investigation into the Adani group, said that Ministry of External Affairs on Friday (November 29, 2024), who confirmed that the Indian Embassy in Washington has thus far not received any legal paperwork on the indictments against top Adani officials accused of a conspiracy to bribe Indian officials. Calling it a legal matter between “private firms and individuals, and the US Department of Justice,” the MEA said it was not involved directly, and that it had not been asked for help in the matter by the US, nor had the government sought evidence of the bribery allegations in order to pursue investigations in India.

The statement from the MEA came even as both houses of parliament were adjourned for a fourth day, with the government refusing to make a statement, and the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha rejecting adjournment motions for a debate on the issue. 

“This is a legal matter involving private firms and individuals and the U.S. Department of Justice,” said the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, responding to a question from The Hindu. “We are not part of it in any manner at this point of time.” 

To another question on whether the government had been served with the arrest warrant issued by a court in New York after a grand jury indicted Adani Chairman Gautam Adani and 7 other officials of the company variously on a number of counts ranging from bribery, conspiracy and securities fraud on November 21, the MEA spokesperson said the Embassy in Washington had not been contacted about the case.

“Obviously there are established procedures and legal avenues in such cases which we believe would be followed. The Government of India was not informed in advance on the issue,” he said, adding, “We have not had any conversation on this particular matter with the US government”.

The U.S. Department of Justice is now expected to initiate proceedings for a trial, although it is unclear how far a change in administration in the US in January will affect the process, and whether there will be other avenues such as allowing the Adani group to pay a fine in lieu of further action. Although the alleged bribery of Indian officials took place in India, US agencies have invoked a Bonds issue in the US and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to justify its case against the group.  India and the US signed a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters in 2001, which came into force in 2005, which governs any requests for assistance in cases against citizens in each other’s jurisdictions. 

“Any request by a foreign government for service of summons/arrest warrant is part of mutual legal assistance. Such requests are examined on merits. We have not received any request on this case from the US side,” Mr. Jaiswal clarified.

Responding to the US indictments last week, the Adani group had denied any wrongdoing, and said it would pursue legal recourse. It also disclosed that it has thus far suffered losses of US $55 billion since the indictment was made public in terms of market capitalisation across 11 listed companies.

In a statement to news agency AFP, the group said it had already faced “significant repercussions” , including “international project cancellations, financial market impact and sudden examination from strategic partners, investors and the public”, with a specific reference to Kenya where the government cancelled its contracts for infrastructure and energy. Others like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have announced reviews of Adani contracts.

Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh interim government, during an interview to PTI.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has said the interim government would pursue with India ways to resolve the differences over the long-pending Teesta water sharing treaty, as delaying it for years serves no purpose for either nation.

In an interview with PTI at his official residence in Dhaka, Mr. Yunus stated that the water-sharing issue between the two countries must be resolved according to international norms, emphasising that lower riparian countries like Bangladesh have specific rights that they seek to uphold.

“By sitting over this issue (water sharing), it is not serving any purpose. If I know how much water I will get, even if I am not happy and sign it, it would be better. This issue has to be resolved,” he said.

Replying to a query on whether the interim government would push for resolving the issues over the Teesta water-sharing treaty at the earliest, he said the new regime will pursue it.

“Push is a big word; I am not saying it. We will pursue it. But we have to sit together and resolve it,” he told PTI.

India and Bangladesh were set to sign a deal on Teesta water sharing during then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka in 2011, but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declined to endorse it, citing a scarcity of water in her State.

“This is not a new issue but a very old issue. We have spoken on this issue on several occasions. The discussions began during the period of Pakistan’s rule. While we all wanted this treaty to be finalised, even the Indian government was ready for it. However, the state government of West Bengal was not ready for it. We need to resolve it,” he said.

Mr. Yunus reiterated that lower riparian countries like Bangladesh have specific rights that they seek to uphold.

“We have to resolve this issue according to international norms. The lower riparian countries have certain rights, and we want those rights,” he said.

His remarks come days after the interim government’s Adviser on Water Resources, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, told PTI that Dhaka would push for restarting the dialogue regarding the Teesta water-sharing treaty with New Delhi and asserted that both countries should adhere to international principles regarding water-sharing between upper riparian and lower riparian countries.

Speaking about the flood situation in Bangladesh and reports from Dhaka blaming India for the floods, Mr. Yunus said that until the treaty is signed, a humanitarian approach can be adopted to deal with such crises.

“When the High Commissioner (of India) came to meet me, I said that we can work on better management to see how the situation can be controlled during the floods. For such coordination between two countries, we don’t need any treaty.” “We can work on this together on humanitarian grounds and resolve this, as this will ease the suffering of the masses. Such humanitarian steps would really help,” he said.

Monsoon rainfall-triggered floods in deltaic Bangladesh and upstream Indian regions have killed several people and marooned or affected nearly three million others in Bangladesh, posing a huge administrative challenge to the newly installed interim government amid a political transition.

India has described as factually incorrect the reports from Bangladesh that the current flood situation in certain parts of the country has been caused by the opening of a dam on the Gumti River in Tripura.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi stated that floods in the shared rivers between the two countries are a “shared” problem affecting people on both sides and require close mutual cooperation to resolve.

Speaking about the contentious issue of border killings, Yunus condemned it and said killing is not a solution to dealing with it.

Mr. Yunus described the alleged killings of Bangladeshi citizens at India’s border as “callousness”.

“Killing someone is not a solution, as there are legal ways to deal with this. There has to be a ground mechanism and legal procedure to handle it. This is a one-sided thing. No one is crossing the border to capture your country; those who are being killed by shooting are just couriers. This is callousness. This has to stop,” he said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) of India has accused Bangladeshi smugglers and infiltrators of crossing over the border and attacking Indian forces when challenged.

They have raised the issue with the Bangladesh counterpart BGB on several occasions. West Bengal shares a total of 2,217 kilometres of its border with Bangladesh, along with Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Assam (262 km), and Mizoram (318 km).

Deaths at times occur along the Bangladesh-India border due to alleged infiltrators trying to cross into India illegally, cross-border firing, and cattle smuggling.