The fragile diplomatic landscape between India and Bangladesh has entered one of its most volatile phases in decades. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka convicted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, long seen as India’s closest and most reliable partner in South Asia, and sentenced her to death. Almost immediately, the interim government under Muhammad Yunus formally demanded her extradition from New Delhi, warning that refusal would be considered an “unfriendly act."

With this single proclamation, Dhaka has placed India in a corner, transforming what should have been a judicial procedure into a geopolitical contest of narratives, interests, and legitimacy.

For New Delhi, this is not merely a legal issue under the 2013 extradition treaty. It is a question of regional stability, precedent, and national interest. For Bangladesh’s interim government, the insistence on Hasina’s extradition has become a tool to assert its own credibility internationally and domestically after months of turbulence. And for the broader region, the consequences of this standoff may determine the trajectory of South Asian geopolitics for years.

The interim government claims its demand is grounded in law and evidence. Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to Yunus, repeatedly asserts that Hasina is a “mass murderer," pointing to a 127-page UN investigation that allegedly details direct orders she gave for lethal force against protesters during the 2024 unrest. According to Dhaka, the crimes are not political but purely humanitarian in nature.

Therefore, the extradition treaty’s “political exception" clause—which allows refusal when charges are politically motivated—should not apply. The argument, on paper, is simple: crimes against humanity trump political provisions.

But international politics has never been simple. The optics of a former prime minister being tried in absentia, by a tribunal........

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