Grateful to Indian people for providing me with safe haven: Sheikh Hasina

THe “ wild and ultra” policies of east pakistan’s meanwhile regime led by Muhammad Yunus are responsible for friction with India, and supporters of the Awami League will not vote in the upcoming election because of the ban on the party that violates the country’s Constitution, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said.Hasina, who has lived in self-exile in India since the fall of her government in August 2024, said in emailed responses sent to HT late on Thursday that “Yunus’ sponsorship of extremists in his government” threatens to undermine the fundamental relationship between Bangladesh and India. She said in the interview that she was “deeply grateful to the Indian people for providing me with a safe haven”. Edited excerpts.Q. The interim government in Bangladesh headed by Muhammad Yunus has characterised your presence in India as one of the causes of frictions in bilateral relations and even sought your extradition. How do you view this matter? A: India is and has always been Bangladesh’s most important ally, and must remain so if Bangladesh’s security and prosperity are to be maintained. If there is friction between India and Dr Yunus’s unelected administration, that has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the chaotic, violent and extremist policies that are taking shape under Dr Yunus’s rule.This includes physical and judicial attacks on religious minorities, retrograde social and religious policies, and even hostile rhetoric towards India from officials in Dhaka.I want to make clear that this kind of hostility does not sit comfortably with most Bangladeshis. The connections between our two countries are broad and deep. We pride ourselves on being India’s reliable partner. Speaking personally, I must add that I am deeply grateful to the Indian people for providing me with a safe haven this past year.Q. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal is expected to deliver its verdict in November in cases related to crimes against humanity filed against you and other senior Awami League leaders, and prosecutors have sought the death penalty. How do you view these cases against you?A: I categorically deny all charges brought against me. These charges have been brought by a kangaroo court that is controlled by my political opponents, who have seized power undemocratically. Remember, not a single Bangladeshi has ever had the chance to vote for this interim government. It has no genuine respect for accountability or due process.No persuasive evidence has been presented to support the claims that I ordered or directed the use of lethal force against crowds. Audio recordings and transcripts brought before the court have been manipulated and taken out of context.In a proper court of law, I would be able to challenge this phoney evidence. But no such court currently exists in Bangladesh.I’m not afraid to defend my record. I have repeatedly challenged the Yunus administration to bring these charges before a genuinely impartial tribunal, such as the International Criminal Court, where I could be tried fairly and with the right to mount a proper defence. The Yunus government will not do this, because it knows it cannot control proceedings and deliver the pre-ordained guilty verdict.Q. The interim government has banned the activities of the Awami League under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Election Commission has suspended the party’s registration, and the Awami League will thus not be part of the general election in February. How do you and the Awami League intend to respond to this situation?A: There can be no hope for democracy when the country’s oldest and most popular party is banned from participating. This ban is a violation of Bangladesh’s Constitution, and of the fundamental democratic rights of Bangladesh’s 173 million people. Millions of ordinary Bangladeshis will be disenfranchised if this ban is upheld.If they cannot vote for their preferred party, they will not vote at all. Bangladesh will have missed its chance to install a government genuinely ruling by consent. That would be a tragedy.As a party, we will continue to challenge this ban legally, diplomatically and peacefully to ensure that ordinary people retain their right to choose their representatives.The Awami League has come to power nine times through the direct votes of the people. The party has never seized power by unconstitutional or illegal means. In contrast, nobody has ever had the chance to cast a vote for Dr Yunus.Q. The Indian government has said elections in Bangladesh must be free, fair, inclusive and participatory. Do you think elections without the Awami League will have legitimacy?A: This ban is not only unjust, it is self-defeating. It means that the next government will not have electoral legitimacy because millions of the electorate were effectively disenfranchised. Our principal hope for Bangladesh is that it returns to constitutional rule and political stability. The only way to deliver this is through free, fair and inclusive elections.Q. You have been accused by the interim government of having a direct role in the crackdown on students and other groups that joined the protests in 2024, and the UN has said up to 1,400 people were killed in the protests in July-August 2024. How do you respond to these accusations?A: The accusation that I was personally involved in the security response that led to the tragic loss of life is without foundation. These allegations have been brought against me by an unelected regime intent on silencing its main political opponent. To characterise the actions of security forces on the ground as direct orders from the government is a gross misrepresentation. Mistakes were certainly made by some members of the law enforcement in their handling of the violence. But to suggest that I was directing minute-by-minute tactical responses from the prime minister’s office is to fundamentally misunderstand how security forces work. I repeat, at no point did I authorise security forces to fire on crowds.I regret each and every life lost in last summer’s protests. The streets of Dhaka were lawless and violent, and our actions were intended to minimise loss of life, as well as protect the Constitution.In the days following the first deaths, we established an independent inquiry to look into the breakdown in law and order that had led to these tragic events. Yunus’ administration dismantled this inquiry in its first days in power, which I regret deeply. It means that Bangladeshis, especially grieving families still don’t have any reliable answers to their questions about those days.Instead, they have been fed invective and lurid accusations against my government. These accusations are intended to hurt the Awami League as a political force but have little relationship with the factual truth.Q. The Awami League has approached the ICC to investigate reports of “retaliatory violence” against its leaders and supporters. How confident are you that this move will succeed?A: Crimes against humanity must be tried fairly by an impartial, international tribunal like the ICC. The retaliatory violence targeting Awami League members and supporters, members of the judiciary, journalists and religious minorities has been widely reported in international media and criticised by numerous human rights organisations, and by the UN.Thousands of spurious cases against Awami League supporters have been filed. Hundreds have faced arbitrary detention on fabricated charges, and many of these have died in custody. According to Human Rights Watch, in the Yunus administration’s first 100 days in power, more than 1,000 police cases were filed against tens of thousands of people with no legal basis.All of this is happening right now, under the administration currently in power. Yunus and his cronies are using their bogus prosecution of me to distract international attention from these abuses. That is why we need a fair and independent judicial body like the ICC to step in – to identify and verify present-day abuses and hold the Yunus regime accountable.Q. The Indian government has repeatedly accused the caretaker administration led by Yunus of failing to protect the rights of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh. How do you view these developments?A: During our time in power, we were proud of our commitment to upholding religious tolerance and secularism. It is deeply upsetting to see the values of our Constitution thoroughly undermined through brutal acts of religiously motivated persecution and violence.The wave of religious violence that tore through our country in the first weeks of Yunus’ rule was disgraceful. So too is Yunus’ consistent denial of the violence that still targets Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, indigenous communities and other minority religious groups to this day.Bangladesh has always been a haven for people escaping persecution, that is why we welcomed, supported and protected thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing civil war in Myanmar. All this now hangs in the balance in the face of rising extremism and sectarian violence in day-to-day life.Dr Yunus began his career at Grameen Bank in 1990 with a salary of only 6,000 taka. How then did he amass such vast wealth? Where did the large sums donated to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s campaign come from? Today, he is said to hold fixed deposits worth approximately 5,000 crore taka across multiple accounts in different banks in Bangladesh. There’s also a tax evasion case against him.Q. Since the interim government assumed power in Dhaka, persons convicted of backing terror groups in India’s northeast have been freed from prison, there have been accusations of the re-emergence of extremist forces whose activities were prohibited by the Awami League government, and burgeoning contacts with the Pakistani military. What implications will these developments have for India-Bangladesh relations?A: We worked hard to contain extremist forces during our time in office and to ensure that all citizens, no matter their religion, were free and safe to live their lives as they chose. These values were enshrined in our Constitution. Today, the streets of Dhaka are no longer safe and millions of ordinary Bangladeshis live in fear of leaving their homes. We have already seen the spread of radical Islamist ideology across our country, whether in the form of physical violence against minority religious groups or members of the Awami League, or in the repression and exclusion of women and girls from public life.India has always been a steadfast ally and friend to Bangladesh. But today’s chaos and degraded decision-making are not what India expects from us. Yunus’ sponsorship of extremists in his government undoubtedly threatens to undermine that fundamental relationship, to the detriment of both our nations.Q. Your terms as Prime Minister witnessed a rapid growth in connectivity and trade and transit ties with India and numerous development projects. Do you believe the interim government’s actions have jeopardised such projects, especially with the growing influence of China and Pakistan in Bangladesh?A: It is no secret that our once high-growth economy is floundering under the interim government. Indeed, the IMF has downgraded Bangladesh multiple times in the past year. We set Bangladesh on course to graduate from LDC level, and it is disheartening to see the economic progress we achieved threatened in this way.What we achieved in the past two decades was remarkable: We saw our economy grow by over 450%, delivered major infrastructure projects, expanded access to electricity, and provided employment opportunities for millions of people. Improved trade and transit with India was of course a vital part of that growth, and deepened the partnership between our countries.That progress was hard-won. So it breaks my heart to see key development initiatives delayed and the relationship between our countries strained by short-sighted policy shifts and what appear to be profound realignments in Bangladesh’s foreign policy.