Dhaka: Interim govt chief adviser Muhammad Yunus said Bangladesh wants to maintain good relations with India while asserting that it should be based on equity and fairness. Yunus, 84, made the remarks while responding to a question at a meeting with students who had participated in the revolution that ousted PM Sheikh Hasina last month. “We need to maintain good relations with India. But it should be based on equity and fairness,” the chief adviser's special assistant Mahfuj Alam quoted him as saying.
Alam, who briefed the media after the meeting, said Yunus said Bangladesh always gives importance to mutual respect and equity in maintaining relations with neighbours. He stressed reviving SAARC to enhance regional cooperation. Last week, Yunus expressed a desire for good ties with India but insisted Delhi must abandon the narrative that only Hasina’s leadership ensures the country’s stability.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain expressed surprise over defence minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks, emphasising that he does not foresee any immediate threat of conflict between the neighbours. “I am more surprised than concerned. I don’t understand why he (Singh) made such remarks... I don’t find any reason behind that,” he told reporters.
Extradition of Hasina
The newly appointed chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) announced that the country will initiate steps to extradite Hasina from India to face trial on charges of genocide during the uprising.
“Bangladesh has a criminal extradition treaty with India. She will be brought back to the country in line with that agreement. Not just Hasina, but all those involved in the massacre will be officially tried,” said chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, who has a Jamaat-e-Islami background.
As a Supreme Court advocate, Islam had served as deputy to barrister Abdur Razzaque, who led the legal defence team for former Jamaat leaders facing war crime charges at ICT.
Hasina urged to ‘keep quiet’
Yunus said that Hasina making political remarks from India is an “unfriendly gesture,” asserting that she must remain silent to prevent the discomfort to both countries until Dhaka requests her extradition. “If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh (govt) wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet. She is there in India and at times she is talking, which is problematic,” he said in an interview. “It is not good for us or for India. There is discomfort regarding it.”
