‘She has to make up her mind’: S Jaishankar on Sheikh Hasina's stay in India
text_fields
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s stay in India stems from her decision following the political situation in the country last year.
A special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death last month accusing her of ‘crimes against humanity’ following her government’s crackdown on student protests with Reuters reporting that around 1500 people were killed in the incident.
Responding to a question if Hasina could stay in India as long as she wanted Dr S Jaishankar said that ‘that is something in which she has to make up her mind’.
Dr S Jaishankar said at Hindustan Times Leadership Summit that: ‘She came here in a certain circumstance, and I think that circumstance clearly is a factor in what happens to her. But again, that is something in which she has to make up her mind.’
Weighing in on the India-Bangladesh ties, S Jaishankar emphasized the need for having a credible democratic process in the neighbouring country.
Pointing to the political situation in the country he said: ‘What we heard was that people in Bangladesh, particularly those who are now in power, had an issue with how the elections were conducted earlier. Now, if the issue was the election, the first order of business would be to do a fair election’.
Expressing optimism for strengthening bilateral ties, he said ‘I am quite confident that whatever comes out of the democratic process would have a balanced and mature view about the relationship and hopefully things would improve’.