Hasina should keep quiet till Bangladesh seeks her extradition from India: Yunus

In an interview with India's largest news agency PTI published today (5 August), Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said former prime minister Sheikh Hasina should stay silent in India till Bangladesh seeks her extradition.

His statement comes after Hasina made political statements, which Yunus termed "unfriendly".

"Yes, she has to be brought back or else the people of Bangladesh won't be at peace. The kind of atrocities she has committed, she has to be tried in front of everyone here," he said while speaking to PTI from his official residence in Dhaka.

"No one is comfortable with her stance there in India because we want her back to try her. She is there in India and at times she is talking, which is problematic. Had she been quiet, we would have forgotten it; people would have also forgotten it as she would have been in her own world. But sitting in India, she is speaking and giving instructions. No one likes it," Yunus said.

"Everyone understands it. We have said quite firmly that she should keep quiet. This is an unfriendly gesture towards us; she has been given shelter there and she is campaigning from there. It is not that she has gone there on a normal course. She has fled following a people's uprising and public anger," he said while talking to PTI.

Yunus was referring to Hasina's statement on 13 August in which she demanded "justice", saying those involved in recent "terror acts", killings and vandalism must be investigated, identified and punished.

Dr Yunus said India needs to move beyond the narrative that frames everybody except Hasina as an Islamist. He said that Bangladesh would get her back as that is what the people wanted.

Discussing the future of the India-Bangladesh relationship, Yunus expressed a desire for good ties with India but insisted that New Delhi must abandon the narrative that only Hasina's leadership ensures the country's stability.

"The narrative is that everybody is Islamist, the BNP is Islamist, and everyone else is Islamist and will make this country into Afghanistan. And Bangladesh is in safe hands with Sheikh Hasina at the helm only. India is captivated by this narrative. India has to come out of this narrative. Bangladesh, like any other nation, is another neighbour," he said.

Referring to the recent incidents of alleged attacks on Hindu minorities in the country and India raising concerns about it, Yunus said this is just an excuse.

"The issue of trying to portray the conditions of minorities in such a big way is just an excuse," he said.

Hasina fled to India from Bangladesh on 5 August after a student movement turned into a national protest against the leader. 

She was forced to step down from her position and flee the country in a military helicopter. She has been in India ever since even as calls for extradition grow.

Bangladesh has revoked Hasina and her relatives' diplomatic passports, raising questions about whether she can stay in India any longer and whether she faces possible extradition. 

The approval for the ex-PM to enter India after she fled Bangladesh last month had been granted at short notice, according to officials at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.