Bangladesh to continue diplomatic efforts to bring back Sheikh Hasina from India: Foreign Adviser

Hasina, the 78-year-old Awami League leader has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests.

Dhaka: Bangladesh's interim government on Wednesday said it will continue diplomatic efforts to bring back from India deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been convicted and sentenced in multiple cases.

The 78-year-old Awami League leader has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests.

"We will try to convince India to send her back to Dhaka," Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain was quoted as saying by the state-run BSS news agency.

Touhid noted that Hasina's repatriation ultimately depends on India's decision.

On Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Hasina came to India "in a certain circumstance and I think that circumstance clearly sort of is a factor in what happens to her. But again, that is something which she has to make up her mind."

Responding to reports suggesting possible third-country resettlement for the former premier, Touhid said he had only seen such claims in media coverage.

"I did not receive any information through diplomatic channels," he added. Touhid had earlier said Bangladesh was not ruling out a response from India.

On November 17, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for "crimes against humanity" committed during the July-August mass uprising last year.

Following the court verdict, Bangladesh sent a letter to India seeking her extradition.

India said it is examining a request by Bangladesh's interim government to extradite Hasina, asserting that New Delhi is committed to ensuring the best interests of the people of that country.

Hasina has said the judgment has been made by a "rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate".

On November 27, another court sentenced Hasina to 21 years in jail in three corruption cases related to irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project.

On December 1, Hasina was convicted by a court which sentenced her to five years in jail and her niece, British parliamentarian Tulip Siddiq, to a two-year jail term in a land scam case.