The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

Sheikh Hasina’s Media Event in India Hits Bangladesh-India Ties

By giving the deposed Bangladeshi PM a platform to lash out at the present regime from Indian soil, India has signaled that it still stands with its old friend.

A file photo of then-Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during her visit to New Delhi, India, weeks before her ouster from power in 2024.

New Delhi’s decision to allow deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to hold a press conference on August 5, coinciding with the second anniversary of the toppling of her government in a student uprising in 2024, has set back India’s ties with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government in Dhaka.

What is most intriguing is the timing. Ties with the Tarique Rahman-led government were on the mend as Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman visited New Delhi from April 7 to 9, marking the first high-level ministerial engagement. India too had sent an invitation to Prime Minister Rahman to attend the BRICS summit to be held in New Delhi in September. Bilateral trade and the issuing of visas to Bangladeshi citizens had resumed. The appointment of Dinesh Trivedi, a senior politician, as India’s new high commissioner was seen as a thawing of frozen ties.

All these measures took a hit when Sheikh Hasina was allowed to hold a press conference. India’s foreign ministry distanced itself from the event, with a ministry spokesman saying the government had no role to play in what was an event by a private media entity, and that the government does not endorse anything said at the forum. Even so, especially with regard to the duly constituted government of Bangladesh, the damage was done.

The press event prompted a furious reaction from Dhaka. The government expressed deep outrage and regret, describing the incident as a direct affront to the sovereignty of Bangladesh and a grievous insult to the martyrs of the July Revolution. The foreign ministry press note further warned of the severe ramifications such a public platform could have on the reset and restoration of bilateral relations. Bangladesh has already sought Sheikh Hasina’s extradition under the 2013 India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty.

Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy further aggravated the situation by calling Bangladesh a “failed state” and saying it could emerge as a hub for regional terrorism. Speaking virtually from the United States at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club event in New Delhi, he alleged that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was operating freely in Bangladesh and accused the current government of allowing the release of hundreds of convicted militants jailed during the Awami League’s rule.

Joy also claimed that banned Islamist organizations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir were now openly holding rallies and that individuals linked to al-Qaida had addressed public gatherings. Describing the situation as a direct security threat to India, he said Bangladesh was becoming “another Pakistan” on India’s eastern frontier, warning that the country’s growing instability would have consequences not only for India but........

© The Diplomat