Dhaka, Bangladesh – The Bangladesh government has expressed outrage over deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s press conference held in New Delhi, stating that the event was permitted despite Dhaka’s prior concerns about its impact on bilateral relations. In a statement, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “deeply regrets that in spite of concerns conveyed a priori to the Government of India about the likely ramifications of this event on the reset of our bilateral relations, this public event was permitted to be held.” The government also reiterated that its “repeated requests” to extradite Hasina “have not yet elicited a response.”
During her first public media interaction since fleeing to India on August 5, 2024, Hasina declared her determination to return to Bangladesh in December to put the country on the “right track.” The audio-only virtual press conference, where attendees could only hear her voice, was seen as a significant political statement. Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry described her remarks as an “affront” to the country’s sovereignty and an insult to those who lost their lives during the July Revolution. The government emphasized its desire to maintain a “constructive, mutually beneficial, and forward-looking relationship with India,” but stressed that permitting Hasina to interact publicly “hurt public sentiment” and was “detrimental to the development of harmonious bilateral relations.”
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The statement expressed disappointment that India has not responded to requests for Hasina’s extradition under the 2013 India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty. Last November, Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal in Dhaka for alleged “crimes against humanity” over the 2024 student-led protests. Since the verdict, Dhaka has been urging New Delhi to return her to face the law. The diplomatic row underscores the ongoing tensions between the two nations over Hasina’s presence in India and the broader political fallout from the 2024 uprising that toppled her government.
