Extraditing Hasina to send message that most loyal friends cannot depend on India: Karlekar

Echoing many of the Indian intelligentsia, a leading Indian journalist asked to reject calls for extraditing Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh.

"Extraditing Sheikh Hasina would send the message around that even the most loyal friends of India cannot depend on it for support in times of distress. That is not something that New Delhi should want," wrote The Pioneer's Consulting Editor Hiranmay Karlekar.

In an article in the Indian daily, he said: India must stand firm in its refusal to hand over a leader who has been a steadfast ally, particularly when such demands come from factions with anti-India sentiment. 

He said, India must not pay the slightest heed to the demand by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's secretary-general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, to extradite Sheikh Hasina to his country.

"From reports in Indian newspapers, he [Alamgir] seems to have cited two grounds, both utterly laughable, for his demand. The first is that she should stand trial for the murder and other charges levelled against her. The question is: will she receive a fair trial under the conditions now prevailing in Bangladesh? The matter is important. Even if the charges levelled against her are true, and she has done terrible things, she has an inalienable right to a fair trial," Karlekar wrote.

In these circumstances, he said: Sheikh Hasina's life will be in danger if she is extradited to Bangladesh; nor can she be assured of a fair trial, particularly given the fact that judges will either be under tremendous pressure or will be pre-disposed to convict her as they have been appointed by the Interim Government and are hostile to her.

A member of the Press Council of India in two stints, Karlekar has been a General Secretary of the Editors Guild of India, a member of the Board of Directors of the Press Trust of India, and a nominee of the Editors Guild in the Central Press Accreditation Committee of the Government of India.

In the article titled "Reject calls for extraditing Sheikh Hasina", he wrote: The second ground that, according to the reports, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has cited for Sheikh Hasina's extradition, is that the Awami League and she were conspiring in New Delhi to falsify (sic) the victory that students and other citizens of Bangladesh have achieved. 

"Nothing could be more ludicrous. Most Awami League leaders are in Bangladesh, busy defending themselves in courts against charges brought against them, or in hiding. A number of them have been lynched. The homes and business establishments of many of them have been destroyed and set aflame."

Further excerpts of his article:

In fact, the Awami League has been reduced to such straits that, unlike in the earlier years, it could not stage an event to observe the anniversary of the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, to protest against increasing terrorist attacks on its cadres and leaders.

It may well be argued that Sheikh Hasina needs to be present in courts to stand trial and face cross-examination to establish the veracity of the charges levelled against her, or examine the complicity of others involved.

For that, the interim government or its successor must establish that a prima facie case exists against her and then request India to allow an emissary to question her in any facility that New Delhi may provide.

Meanwhile, there can be no question of extraditing her. The BNP-BJeI (Jamaat) coalition government, in office from 2001 to 2006 with Begum Khaleda Zia as prime minister, made no bones about its hostility to India. Indeed, except those headed by Sheikh Hasina, all governments of Bangladesh since the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, have been hostile to India and pro-Pakistan.