Sheikh Hasina: India walks a tightrope harbouring deposed Bangladeshi prime minister
India is walking a tightrope, harbouring deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Ms Hasina lives with her family in a secure government bungalow in the capital New Delhi, as a state guest.
With the threat on her life, the safe house is heavily guarded and has intelligence officers keeping journalists and the public away from the area.
Bangladesh is in a very awkward and difficult position with the new interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
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Sky News previously spoke to Bangladesh’s interim leader
He previously spoke to Sky News – vowing to put Ms Hasina on trial.
Ms Hasina fled the country on 5 August 2024 after a student uprising that ended her 15-year rule.
She is wanted back in Bangladesh to face corruption and criminal charges over the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the uprising.
In December, the Bangladesh foreign ministry sent a note verbale, an unsigned diplomatic correspondence, seeking the repatriation of Ms Hasina. The same was acknowledged in New Delhi.
Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs in India, said: “We confirm that we have received a note verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission today in connection with an extradition request.
“At this time, we have no comment to offer on this matter.”
The India-Bangladesh extradition treaty of 2013 includes provisions under which an extradition request can be turned down under Article 6 of the treaty.
The interim government of Mr Yunus does not represent the entire political spectrum of the country and once a democratically-elected government is in place, a legitimate demand could be considered by New Delhi.
Cosy relationship
India has had a very cosy relationship with Ms Hasina over her 20-year rule.
Crowds celebrate the resignation of Ms Hasina in Dhaka last summer.
Pic: Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
A policeman aims his weapon at protesters during an imposed curfew on 5 August.
Pic: Reuters/Rajib Dhar
Many in Bangladesh believe New Delhi played a pivotal role in bringing her to power in 2007, and allegedly helped her authoritarian rule over three terms.
India has also been accused of turning a blind eye on issues of large-scale corruption, cronyism and human rights violations.
New Delhi played into Hasina’s narrative
The main opposition – Khalida Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – was not as friendly to India.
Then there is the issue of keeping the Islamist party, Jammat-e-Islami, at bay, which Ms Hasina had banned.
New Delhi played into Ms Hasina’s narrative, “that if not her” then fundamentalists would take over Bangladesh in a sensitive and restive northeastern region of India.
The fear blind-sided mandarins and the right-wing political leadership.
Protesters celebrate beside a defaced portrait of Ms Hasina on 5 August 2024.
Pic: Reuters/Fatima Tuj Johora
People run past a vehicle set on fire by protesters during a rally against Ms Hasina on 4 August.
Pic: Reuters/Rajib Dhar
New Delhi kept all its eggs in Hasina’s basket
India failed to foster good relations with opposition political parties and kept all its eggs in Ms Hasina’s basket.
An official from the Bangladesh high commission, who didn’t want to be named, told Sky News: “There were a number of times when former PM Khalida Zia and her BNP tried reaching out to New Delhi, especially during her long incarceration, only to be rejected and unaccommodated by the political establishment.
“It was done to keep Hasina on side.”
Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist government took over in 2014, this relationship has grown stronger.
Close ties of the two nations
Both countries share a 2,500-mile-long border, but more than that, the nations are steeped in cultural, social and economic bonds.
There are more than 13 million Hindus living in Bangladesh, making up 8% of the population.
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During the unrest and its aftermath, there was violence against the community and a number of Hindu temples were targeted by protesters.
A number of times, Mr Modi’s government raised concerns about the safety and security of the minority Hindu community.
This is the second time that Ms Hasina has taken refuge in India.
After the massacre of 18 of her family members, including her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, she, her husband and children lived in New Delhi for six years until 1981.
There is some uncertainty about her future in India, but New Delhi will not be pressured into handing over the former premier anytime soon.
This is shown in the shelter and unwavering support by India of the Dalai Lama since 1959, under tremendous Chinese pressure.
New Delhi and Dhaka will get an impetus to reset their relationship when Mr Modi and Mr Yunus meet on the sidelines of a regional summit in Thailand in early April.
Israel has said 24 hostages are alive in Gaza – after Donald Trump said there were 21.
The US president told reporters on Tuesday that three more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza had died – alarming their families.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, said the Palestinian militant group was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead – figures unchanged since before Mr Trump‘s comments.
He said 54 of the 59 were Israeli citizens and five of them were foreign nationals.
“All families of the kidnapped are always updated with the information we have about their loved ones,” he said.
The group representing the families of hostages had asked the Israeli government to share any new information with them immediately following Mr Trump’s comments.
It argues that Israel should stop the fighting and negotiate the release of the remaining hostages.
“This is the most urgent and important national mission,” it said on a post on X.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far have been released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
The most recent ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners fell apart in March.
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Hamas took 251 hostages in its attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which it killed 1,200 people.
Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages.
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Israel announces plans for Gaza
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza – increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time.
The plan includes seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.
Pakistan says it has been targeted in a missile attack by India.
Three missiles were fired by India across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory, said Pakistani security officials.
They hit locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to officials.
The Indian defence ministry said it had launched Operation Sindoor as it struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”.
It said a total of nine sites were targeted.
A Pakistan military spokesman said the country will respond to the attacks.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been escalating following a militant gun attack in the disputed area of Kashmir last month.
At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on 22 April.
India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.
Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance.
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24 April: Pakistani minister warns ‘all-out war’ possible
Since the attack, Pakistan’s military has been on high alert after a cabinet minister said Islamabad had credible intelligence indicating that India could attack.
And Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif told Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim that the world should be “worried” about the prospect of a full-scale conflict involving the two nations.
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Friedrich Merz has become Germany’s new chancellor after winning a second vote in the country’s parliament.
He unexpectedly failed in the first parliamentary ballot on Tuesday morning – the first time a chancellor has failed to be elected at the first attempt since the Second World War.
Initially, needing a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot, he received 310 – falling short by just six votes. On the second ballot he managed 325.
It means Mr Merz, the leader of the country’s CDU/CSU conservatives, has become the 10th chancellor since the end of the Second World War.
Friedrich Merz during his swearing in ceremony. Pic: Reuters
He had been expected to win comfortably after securing a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
It meant at least 18 coalition MPs failed to back him in the first round of voting.
Announcing the second vote, Jens Spahn, the head of the Union bloc in parliament, said: “The whole of Europe, perhaps even the whole world, is watching this second round of elections.”
Earlier, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, said on X that Mr Merz’s failure to secure a majority in the first round showed the “weak foundation” on which his coalition was built, adding that it had been “voted out by the voters”.
Mr Merz, 69, succeeds Olaf Scholz and has vowed to prioritise European unity and the continent’s security.
Mr Merz (R) shakes hands with outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz (L). Pic: Reuters
His in-tray includes the Ukraine war and global tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent congratulations to Mr Merz and wished him “every success”.
The Ukrainian president added that the future of Europe was “at stake” and security will “depend on our unity”.
Mr Merz will also have to decide what to do about the AfD, which mainstream parties have refused to work with.
A “firewall” against collaborating with strongly right-wing parties has been in place since the end of the war.
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During federal elections in late February, the AfD scored its best-ever result while Olaf Scholz’s SPD dropped to about 16%.
The AfD is the second largest party in the lower house of the Bundestag and was officially designated as extremist last week by Germany’s domestic spy agency.
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