Media reports say an activist of the Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party of deposed ruler Sheikh Hasina, shot a worker of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) following an altercation over Hasina’s desire to come back in Jashore on March 15. This incident occurred only days after Times of India, quoting an AL leader, reported that Hasina was returning to the country as its prime minister again.
This was not any isolated incident. The rumour of Hasina’s return prompted thousands of AL supporters to express hope against hope -- as if they are really going to get back power denying the political changeover that uprooted her fascist regime on August 5, 2024. The AL is also not party to the subsequent reform initiatives undertaken by the Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration to turn Bangladesh into a truly democratic republic.
Sheikh Hasina had actually fled to India as a matter of her choice to escape public wrath at the height of the student-mass demonstration last year. None of the protesters against her repressive actions of killing people and plundering national resources asked Hasina to leave the country. In fact, the interim government has requested Indian authorities to hand over Hasina so that she can be tried on charges of crimes against humanity, among many other criminal offences allegedly committed by her and her men.
When Hasina expressed her wishes, through leaked telephone conversations, to suddenly enter the country -- or more likely her aides created an impression of her possible return to Bangladesh and politics -- the proposition seems to be a paradox. Because Dhaka today does want to bring her back, but definitely not to rehabilitate her in the country’s future power politics.
Unlike her homecoming from India in 1981 that resulted in a long political career and the AL’s return to power five times under her leadership, a possible repercussion of Hasina’s return to Bangladesh on her own initiative was seen in the razing of father’s home in Dhaka's Dhanmondi Road 32, as sort of an epilogue to her address to Bangladeshi students via Facebook on February 5.
Hasina showed no remorse for the killing of more than 1,000 people and the injuries of over 20,000 during the uprising that her forces tried to quell by means of force. Neither had she had any reconciliatory tone to accept the reality and seek the forgiveness of her countrymen.
So, no matter whether she is extradited to Bangladesh or she voluntarily returns home, the consequence will be the same: A ruler who gained notoriety for the enforced disappearance of thousands of her political rivals, Hasina will make an “enforced appearance” at her trial and if sentenced to death, given the leaked audio saying she had issued order to shoot the demonstrators, she will be sent to the gallows. However, there may be only one difference between her return: If she dies in India under the prevailing circumstances, it is hardly likely that she will be buried in Bangladeshi soil.
If diplomatically agreed upon, India and Bangladesh have no legal shortcomings in completing the process of extraditing Hasina
It is still unlikely that New Delhi will extradite a fugitive former premier, the most hated character in Bangladesh in contemporary history, after giving her shelter as a gesture of gratitude to the former ruler who had all along remained subservient to India.
If diplomatically agreed upon, India and Bangladesh have no legal shortcomings in completing the process of extraditing Hasina, since the two neighbouring countries had signed an extradition treaty. Also, Hasina’s status in India is understandably quite weak as she has not been given political asylum there, nor does she carry any Bangladesh passport any more.
She only possesses a high nuisance value that New Delhi may utilize for creating political issues in the post-revolutionary Bangladesh for their own gains in the coming days. On the flip side, India is inviting diplomatic embarrassment globally for backing a fascist and instigating anger among many Bangladeshi minds by not cooperating with Dhaka in trying Hasina at home for all her crimes. In case the International Criminal Court in The Hague issues a warrant arrest for Hasina, like that of the Philippines’ former president Rodrogo Duterte, that will be a diplomatic disaster for Delhi.
On the other hand, it is unwise to expect the political comeback of Hasina and her party in a proper democratic setup since she deliberately made her exit from the country fearing none but the people she once had ruled and suppressed. The processions by millions of people on the streets of Dhaka and all over the country on August 5 proved how much she antagonized Bangladeshis by denying them their rights. The moment she relinquished power, not only did she and her party leaders and beneficiaries disappear from the scene but her network, including party and associated organizations and some oligarchs, simply collapsed.
If Hasina now attempts to make a forceful entry into the country’s political landscape, her party men will face what they did not face in August 5 -- elimination of its roots. AL leaders earlier predicted that at least 500,000 of their supporters would be killed on the day of their exit but not even 50 of them were lynched on that day. Of course, they feared for their lives. Now, some of them are behaving like sore losers and venting frustrations on social media. For them. Hasina’s return is tantamount to political fantasy. Sheikh Hasina is not in a position to revamp AL -- a party which may face legal charges of pursuing fascist policy when it was in power.
The political transition Bangladesh is undergoing through reforms and political realignments was unforeseen to Hasina, and seeing how the Bangladesh people sacrificed their lives to see an end to her fascist rule, she has no political card left to play.
Khawaza Main Uddin is a journalist. He can be contacted at [email protected].
