Two trains were travelling in opposite directions on the same track. Aboard one, Tarique Rahman, the new Prime Minister belonging to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was hoping to head to India to help stabilise his country’s most important relationship. Travelling in the other direction from her exile in New Delhi, Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister and Awami League leader, was feeling out her way back to Dhaka to rebuild her political future.
But, as is often inevitable in politics, missed signals and cross-purposes have brought the two trains dangerously close to a collision.
It began with the 5 August press conference held by Hasina, where she declared her intention to return to Dhaka as early as December, despite facing a death sentence there following a trial in absentia by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. Hasina dismissed the charges as politically motivated and demanded that the ban on her Awami League be lifted.
Dhaka was outraged. It saw the New Delhi appearance as an attempt to undermine the tribunal and challenge the legitimacy of the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. It has repeatedly demanded that India extradite the former leader.
On 16 August, Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry said that the two countries had been in touch for several weeks regarding a possible bilateral visit by Rahman to India. But, it added, the process had been “vitiated” by Hasina’s 5 August appearance in New Delhi. Dhaka said that “a propitious environment needs to be created for the visit” and requested India to “expeditiously act” on its extradition request for Hasina, as well as hand over another accused wanted in Bangladesh.