Dhaka, Mar 5: Bangladesh interim government’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has said that Dhaka had sent “formal letters” to India seeking deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s extradition but received “no official response” from New Delhi.
In an interview with UK-based Sky News, Yunus said Hasina will stand trial for “crimes against humanity”, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
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 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”.
“A trial will be taking place. Not only against her, but also all the people associated with her – her family members, her clients or associates,” Yunus said.
Bangladesh has issued two arrest warrants for her.
Yunus said they had sent “formal letters” but received “no official response” from New Delhi.
Last year, India confirmed receiving the ‘note verbale’ or diplomatic communication from the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi but refrained from commenting on it.
Yunus insisted, however, that Hasina would face the court, whether physically present in Bangladesh or in absentia, in India.
Yunus said he was beyond shocked at what he saw at one of the now infamous secret jails, code-named the ‘House of Mirrors’, during his visit to the facility.
“This is just the ugliest thing that you can see, you can feel, or you can observe,” he said.
Hasina is accused of using her security forces and police to oversee the abduction, torture and murder of hundreds of activists.
She denies the allegations and says she’s being politically persecuted.
Hasina, her close aides and many of those accused of overseeing a network of as many as 800 secret jails have fled Bangladesh, the agency said.
Yunus said the number and range of people involved in the alleged crimes was “taking time” to work through.
Hasina, the military and police are also accused of a violent crackdown on protesters in July and August, which the UN estimates killed as many as 1,400 people in the days before the former prime minister fled.
Yunus, who assumed office on August 8, in the past claimed that about 1,500 people, including students and workers, were killed while 19,931 others were wounded during the protest against the Hasina government. (PTI)
