Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh interim government has acknowledged that it has virtually no legal or diplomatic mechanism to bring back former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India unless New Delhi agrees to cooperate.
Speaking to reporters at Dhaka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Interim Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain said Bangladesh must realistically recognise the limits of its leverage in this matter.
“If India does not extradite Sheikh Hasina, there is no alternative for Bangladesh to bring her back,” he said, noting that extradition is entirely dependent on the host country’s decision, irrespective of Bangladesh’s internal political developments.
Hasina fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024, hours before the collapse of her government during the July uprising. She has since been living in India, where the Indian government has neither officially confirmed nor denied providing her political asylum. Touhid Hossain explained that Bangladesh could request Hasina’s return through diplomatic communications, but such requests would carry no binding force under international law. “Extradition is a sovereign decision. If the Indian government refuses, we cannot compel them. That is the reality,” he added.