Describing India as Bangladesh’s most important ally, former PM Sheikh Hasina urges the Indian government India to press upon Dhaka to respect democratic norms and not disenfranchise millions of Bangladeshis. Hasina has been in India since her ouster in August last year and her political fate could be decided by a special tribunal verdict on Monday in the alleged cases of crime against humanity that she is facing. The verdict by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) could also indicate if the ban on her party Awami League will stay, preventing it from contesting the elections in February. The deposed PM said that the ICT was under the control of her political adversaries who, she added, were seeking to discredit the Awami League and distract attention from their own ongoing failures of governance. “India is our country’s most important ally and would understandably prefer to deal with a regime in Dhaka that was legitimized by a popular vote. So, I ask our friends in India to continue their call for Yunus (chief adviser) and his cronies to respect democratic norms and not to disenfranchise millions of Bangladeshis,” said Hasina, responding in writing to a query from TOI last week. While doing all it can to not appear overbearing, India has called for the upcoming elections to be free, fair and inclusive. The Awami League’s registration was revoked earlier by the election commission, barring it from contesting elections. “An election can be neither free nor fair when millions of citizens are denied a vote, and where every Bangladeshi is denied a choice. Yunus must allow the participation of all political parties, so that the victor in February enjoys the consent and trust of its people,” said Hasina, adding there’s an irony that the only party which ensured free elections is now barred from participating. Hasina said that in a fair and impartial court of law, like the International Criminal Court at The Hague, she would have no difficulty in challenging the “so-called” evidence against her. “I categorically deny all charges brought against me. No convincing evidence has been presented at the so-called International Crimes Tribunal, because none exists. Audio recordings and transcript fragments that were presented to the Tribunal were presented out of context and prove nothing,” she said. Hasina also accused Yunus of placing radical extremists into senior positions in his government and offering implicit encouragement to sectarianism and the suppression of women’s rights. “Local human rights groups estimate that over 2,400 incidents of violence against religious and ethnic minorities have been recorded under Yunus’ rule. He has overseen and even denied the thousands of documented attacks against religious minorities,” said Hasina, adding Yunus is either unable or unwilling to protect ordinary Bangladeshis who are afraid to leave their homes. On Dhaka’s efforts to revive ties with Pakistan, she said that amidst the chaos on the domestic front, it’s hard to imagine that the interim government was pursuing a coherent strategy internationally. “Obviously Bangladesh should have a stable relationship with Pakistan but I am alarmed by the hostility that Yunus’s administration is showing towards India,” said Hasina.
