‘No question of return’: Rizvi says Hasina must be extradited from India

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be brought back from India under the existing extradition treaty, and that there is no scope for her to return on her own.

“Sheikh Hasina wants to come back to the country again,” Rizvi said on Friday. “Her lawyers are seeking a passport, a visa, a national identity card. Why? There are two issues here: one is return, the other is extradition. Sheikh Hasina will be brought back under the extradition treaty.”

He was speaking at a discussion on National Revolution and Solidarity Day organised by Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal at the National Press Club in Dhaka in the morning.

Rizvi explained the difference between the two terms. When a person leaves a country and later wants to come back to it, that is a return, he said. When someone faces criminal cases, allegations of crimes or a sentence, extradition provides a way to bring them from one country to another. It is a legal process between two countries, he said.

“Bangladesh has an extradition treaty with India. It is a legal matter,” he said. “So in Hasina’s case, the question of return cannot arise. All this talk about her visa, passport or national identity card seems irrelevant to me.”

He said the process must follow the treaty’s rules, with talks between the two governments, and that she must be brought back to face ongoing trials. Any sentence handed down must be carried out under the law, he said.

‘As if she has gone to her father’s house’

Rizvi cited the people killed in the July uprising, saying Hasina is accused of killing countless people, including Abu Sayeed, Ahnaf, Mugdho, Wasim Akram and Fayaz of Chattogram. He said she also faces allegations of killing about 1,400 people, among them students, rickshaw pullers and workers.

“Cases are going on against her. We also know she has been sentenced in several cases,” he said. “So what is there to beat drums about? She can be extradited through a legal process. But it is being discussed as if she has gone to her father’s house or her in-laws’. She must be received with roses, tuberoses or jasmine and brought back!”

He said the woman accused of shedding so much blood must be brought to trial.

The remarks come days after Hasina’s camp moved to seek travel documents. Her lawyers asked Bangladesh’s embassy in New Delhi for a new passport and national identity card, as part of a plan to return to Bangladesh in December. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said Bangladesh would not issue her a passport or national identity card, and that she could return through extradition, surrender to a court and serve her sentence. India’s foreign ministry spokesman has said the extradition matter will be resolved legally.

Hasina has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity during the July Uprising. Bangladesh has repeatedly sought her extradition, but India has not handed her over.

‘17 years of fascist misrule’

Rizvi said 17 years of “fascist misrule” resembled the period from 1972 to 1975, and that students and the public, inspired by the spirit of November 7, broke it and forced Hasina to flee.

He alleged that she re-established the same kind of rule, with enforced disappearances, killings and secret murders becoming part of the character of the state.

He said people from all walks of life, including BNP leaders and activists, school, college and university students, rickshaw pullers and workers, took part in the movement. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, he said, led it from London through technology, keeping in contact with people at home and uniting them.

Tribute to Mahila Dal

Praising the Mahila Dal’s long struggle, Rizvi said its leaders and activists kept up the movement for 17 years despite cases, arrests and police obstruction. He credited the women, led by president Afroza Abbas and general secretary Sultana Ahmed, with playing an important role on the streets.

Those who made sacrifices in the movement must be recognised, he said. “It cannot be that someone gets a chance simply because she is somebody’s wife, sister or relative.”