Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death by the country’s International Tribunal Court. Now Pakistan has refused to comment on the death sentence given to Sheikh Hasina on Friday. Pakistan also said that this is an internal matter of Bangladesh.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, when asked at the press briefing, said, “This is an internal matter of the democratic and constitutional process there, as I had said in my initial statement also. I will not make any further comment on this subject.” He further said, the people of Bangladesh are fully capable of solving their problems according to their democratic and constitutional processes.

Sheikh Hasina is living in India

A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced Sheikh Hasina, 78, to death for ordering a deadly crackdown on last year’s student-led rebellion. Sheikh Hasina has been living in India since the rebellion in Bangladesh on August 5 last year. After this, now that Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death, India is playing an important role in this. After the sentencing of Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh government has demanded the handover of Sheikh Hasina from India.

Bangladesh-PAK relations

Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh had deteriorated during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, but after her removal from power, relations between the two countries have improved. Now trade and defense officials of both the countries are visiting each other.

Under what charges was the punishment given?

A three-member International Criminal Tribunal led by Justice Mohammad Ghulam Mortuza Mozumdar sentenced Hasina to death in two cases:

1. On August 5 last year, 6 unarmed protesters were killed in Chunkarpul, Dhaka.
2. On the same day, firing on 6 student protesters in Ashulia
3. Of the six students killed in Ashulia, five were burnt after death, while six were reportedly burnt alive.

Along with Sheikh Hasina, former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also sentenced to death, while former Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Abdullah al-Mamun, who had turned approver, was given a five-year prison sentence.

Yunus’s stance on the decision

Professor Mohammad Yunus, Nobel laureate and chief adviser to the interim government, described the court’s decision as an important, if limited, justice that sent a message to thousands of affected people.

He said, the courts of Bangladesh have given the verdict with such clarity, the echo of which is being heard across the country and the world. This conviction and sentence reaffirms a fundamental principle: no person, no matter how great their power, is above the law.