• Interim govt says UN to probe ‘atrocities’ committed during unrest
• Mob, vowing to ‘guard revolution’, beats ex-PM’s supporters

DHAKA: As cases rise against her, including murder accusations, Bangladesh will decide whether to ask India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned and fled to New Delhi last week, the country’s de-facto foreign minister Mohammad Touhid Hossain said on Thursday.

Hossain said in an interview he did not want to speculate, but noted that Hasina was facing “so many cases”. If the country’s home and law ministries decided, “we have to ask for her…return to Bangladesh”, he said.

“That creates an embarrassing situation for the Indian government,” he said, adding that India “knows this and I am sure they will take care of it”.

He did not elaborate. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Hasina fled the country for India on Aug 5 after a violent uprising against her led to nearly 300 people getting killed, including many students. She has been named in two murder cases already, along with senior members of her cabinet.

Ataur Rahman, deputy director of the investigation cell of International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic court, said it had launched a third case — an investigation against 10 people, including Hasina, for murder, torture and genocide during the period of the protests.

At least three of Hasina’s former ministers and advisers have already been arrested in Bangladesh.

In her only statement since her ouster, Hasina has demanded a probe into the killings and vandalism during the protests. She has not commented on the charges against her.

Hossain, a retired diplomat, is the adviser on foreign affairs in the interim government led by Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus, which was sworn in last week after Hasina’s ouster. The council of advisers includes other retired officials, lawyers, student leaders of the protests and some opposition politicians.

UN probe team

Interim government said in a statement on Thursday that a United Nations team will travel to Bangladesh to investigate “atrocities” committed during the unrest that toppled premier Sheikh Hasina last week.

“The United Nations is sending a UN fact finding team next week to probe atrocities committed during the Student Revolution in July and early this month,” the statement said.

It added that the move had been discussed between UN human rights chief Volker Turk and interim Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus during a phone call late Wednesday. The statement said the fact-finding mission would be tasked with investigating “widespread human rights abuses”.

Hasina supporters thrashed

Meanwhile, mobs vowing to guard Bangladesh’s student-led revolution roamed the site of a planned rally for ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, beating up some of her suspected supporters with bamboo rods and pipes.

Thursday is the anniversary of the 1975 assassination during a military coup of Hasina’s father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a date her government had declared a national holiday.

Huge rallies around Bangladesh marked the occasion in previous years but those glad to see Hasina toppled were eager to ensure supporters of her Awami League party did not have a chance to regroup.

With no police in sight, hundreds of men — most of them not students — formed a human barricade across the street leading to Hasina’s old family home, where her father and many of her relatives were gunned down 49 years ago.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2024