ADDS REACTION FROM INDIA, CHANGES HEADLINE DECK, LEDE
By SM Najmus Sakib and Ahmad Adil
DHAKA, Bangladesh / NEW DELHI, India (AA) - India refused to comment Thursday on an arrest warrant for former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Reacting to reports about the warrant by Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswalsaid said he has "no comments to offer."
Earlier Thursday, the Tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Hasina, who fled to India on Aug. 5, on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during mass student protests in July and August of this year.
The Tribunal also issued warrants for 45 others, including Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and other top leaders of Hasina’s political party, said Chief Prosecutor Advocate Tajul Islam at a news conference in Dhaka.
“On the stay of the former Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina), I had earlier mentioned that she had come here at a short notice for safety reasons as she continues to be (here),” said Jaiswalsaid in New Delhi during a weekly news conference.
The Tribunal has instructed Bangladeshi prosecutors to present Hasina in court by Nov. 18.
Earlier this week, the Tribunal signaled it might seek Interpol’s help to bring Hasina and other party members back to Bangladesh from abroad.
During the student-led protests, at least 736 people were killed, and more than 20,000 were injured, many sustaining bullet wounds from clashes with police, other law enforcement and Awami League supporters, according to the Health Ministry.
The Tribunal has filed more than 60 complaints against Hasina, her Awami League party, and several former senior law enforcement officials, accusing them of forced disappearances, murders and even genocide.
The violence followed a period of escalating discontent that ultimately ended the Awami League's 15-year rule, prompting Hasina to seek refuge in neighboring India.
Yunus was appointed to lead the Bangladeshi transitional government with a mandate to guide the nation toward general elections, though no dates have yet been announced.
The Tribunal, which previously prosecuted leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami for war crimes dating to the 1971 independence conflict, has faced allegations of bias and was restructured by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus after the transitional government took office to restore credibility.
The new administration has also canceled eight national holidays associated with Hasina and her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s founding president. Those include Aug. 15, formerly observed as National Mourning Day, commemorating the 1975 military coup in which most of Rahman’s family was killed.
India already has an existing bilateral extradition treaty with Bangladesh.
*Last month, Yunus had said Hasina must keep silent as her political remarks from India are "causing discomfort" between the two nations.