Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged Bangladesh to focus on building public confidence, allowing its citizens to decide the nation’s future course.
In an exclusive interview with the Indian news portal Firstpost’s Managing Editor Palki Sharma, Wickremesinghe addressed the ongoing political crisis in Bangladesh and the status of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India amidst an uprising against her regime.
“As far as Sheikh Hasina is concerned, many leaders leave their country and go live abroad; if she is out of the country, let her be out of the country. We all want Bangladesh to focus on normalcy,” Wickremesinghe said when asked to comment on demands to extradite Hasina from India to Bangladesh.
Hasina left Bangladesh on August 5, following a series of youth-led protests that culminated in demands for her resignation. Her ousting has triggered a debate within the interim government, led by Nobel Peace Laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, regarding her possible extradition from India.
The situation has contributed to growing anti-India sentiments, complicating relations between the two neighboring countries.
Wickremesinghe, drawing on his own experience as Sri Lanka’s president after former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted by public protests in 2022, emphasized that political stability should be Bangladesh’s priority.
He suggested that the military might play a role in ensuring calm, echoing his own rise to power under similar circumstances in Sri Lanka.
He said: “First is to get stability into Bangladesh—first give people confidence—as far as Sheikh Hasina is concerned, these are political issues. It has to be decided in such a manner...Many leaders leave their country and go abroad. They then live abroad. What I would give priority to is [to ensure] Bangladesh remains stable.”
“If Sheikh Hasina is out of the country, let her be out of the country. I think stability has to come quickly. The army may be necessary. We all want Bangladesh [to] focus on normalcy and on getting people to decide how [they] should lead the country,” he added.
Wickremesinghe became Sri Lanka’s president under a similar situation when the then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to quit by a people’s agitation in 2022 and fled the country.
Wickremesinghe became president as a compromise and to pave the path for an economically secure Sri Lanka.
He faces an electoral test on Saturday when Sri Lanka votes in the presidential election.
