Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is living in India, cannot carry out any political activity from Indian soil, India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said, after she spoke of returning home by the end of this year, according to a report in the Indian Express on Friday.
Citing a statement by Bangladesh’s law minister, Md Asaduzzaman, the newspaper said Hasina could be arrested as soon as she returns from India to Bangladesh.
In its statement to the Lok Sabha’s parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, India’s foreign ministry said Dhaka’s request for Hasina’s return was under review in line with Indian law and procedure.
The committee, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, noted that Hasina had been allowed to stay in India in keeping with the country’s long humanitarian tradition of sheltering people facing grave danger or threats to their lives.
But the committee also noted that in offering such shelter, India always follows a strict policy: its soil cannot be used to conduct political activity against any other country.
In its latest report, titled “The Future of India-Bangladesh Relations,” the committee recommended that India maintain this principled and humanitarian position while handling the entire matter with great sensitivity.
The committee stressed the need to quickly restore normal visa services for Bangladeshi citizens, expressing concern that limited visas were having a negative effect on relations and on ordinary people in both countries. India had suspended tourist visas for about two years after the political change of July 2024, and resumed issuing them to Bangladeshi tourists on June 28 this year.
The committee also urged that talks with Dhaka begin without delay on the 1996 Ganges water-sharing treaty, which is due to expire this year. It advised giving weight to new water-resource data and the effects of climate change in renewing the treaty, and to keeping the West Bengal and Bihar state governments involved in the talks.
The standing committee also recommended that the foreign ministry keep the protection of minority communities in Bangladesh as one of the main parts of India’s diplomatic engagement.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report