BNP Secretary-General asks India to extradite Sheikh Hasina to face trial
Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday asked India to extradite deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to face trial as he accused her of plotting to thwart the country’s student-led “revolution”. Hasina, 76, resigned and fled to India on August 5 following massive protests by students and others against her government over a controversial quota system in government jobs.
“It is our call to you that you should hand her over to the government of Bangladesh in a legal way. The people of this country have given the decision for her trial. Let her face that trial,” Fakhrul was quoted as saying by the Daily Star newspaper.
Talking to reporters after placing a wreath at the grave of former president and BNP founder Zia-ur Rahman in the city, Fakhrul said India is seemingly not keeping its commitment towards democracy by providing shelter to her.
Fakhrul said fascist ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country in the face of the student-led “revolution”. “It is unfortunate that our neighbouring country has sheltered her. Staying there, Hasina has started a conspiracy to foil the victory of Bangladesh,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run BSS news agency.
India has said that it supports a democratic, stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh.
Over 230 people were killed in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students first started in mid-July.
An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.
The BNP secretary general said the people of this country do not consider her offences as minor.
He said they think her “fascist rule has weakened Bangladesh’s independence and hindered the country’s progress for the last 15 years”.