Sheikh Hasina’s dramatic exit from Bangladesh has created a strategic conundrum for India, one which sparks three key questions:
- What occurs if Bangladesh makes a proper request for her extradition?
- If India invokes the exception clause below the extradition treaty between the 2 international locations, what implications will it have for the way forward for India-Bangladesh relations?
- What can India do to navigate this strategic conundrum otherwise, preserving in thoughts its long-term strategic pursuits in Bangladesh?
The extradition conundrum
Amongst SAARC nations, India has extradition treaties with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and an extradition association with Sri Lanka. The India-Bangladesh extradition treaty was signed in 2013 and amended in 2016. Each international locations have benefited from it.
For Bangladesh, the problem was from terror teams resembling Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), whose operatives had been discovered to be hiding in West Bengal and Assam. India received high United Liberation Entrance of Assam (ULFA) chief Anup Chetia extradited from Bangladesh in 2015, and has additionally extradited a few Bangladeshi fugitives by this treaty.
Nevertheless, what complicates issues now’s the host of calls for for the extradition of India’s reliable strategic ally Sheikh Hasina.
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Whereas Bangladesh is but to make a proper request, and India’s exterior affairs ministry has dismissed it as hypothetical, the problem nonetheless requires strategic pondering within the diplomatic and international coverage institution.
So, what are India’s choices? Whereas it might need to arise for its long-time buddy Sheikh Hasina, politics is pushed by rationality and prudence, not feelings. In realpolitik, nationwide pursuits trump personality-based politics. Whereas a lot stays to be seen when it comes to India’s response, if it chooses to disclaim the extradition request, it must script its denial based mostly on the exception clause of the extradition treaty.
Whereas this clause stands contested, India nonetheless has substantive authorized floor to make its case in gentle of Article 6 and Article 8 of the treaty. Article 6 permits ‘political character of offence’ as grounds for exception, whereas Article 8, clause 1.3 states, “An individual is probably not extradited if the accusation in opposition to him shouldn’t be made in good religion within the pursuits of justice.” India can technically invoke each clauses, that are properly throughout the parameters of worldwide regulation to disclaim extradition. Nonetheless, this might have penalties for India-Bangladesh relations.
Strategic problem for bilateral ties
For years, India’s policymakers have considered Bangladesh like many different of its neighbours. It’s now time to concentrate to how India is considered in Bangladesh and recognise the sentiment there, each politically and on the bottom.
The grassroots view is that India is a powerful ally of Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League, somewhat than Bangladesh. This party- and personality-specific identification is detrimental to India’s long-term pursuits within the area, particularly within the wake of competing pursuits with China.
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Bangladesh has been the strategic glue in India’s Neighbourhood First coverage, SAGAR Doctrine, and Act East Coverage. It will be important that India open up all channels of communication with key opposition events in Bangladesh, together with the Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering (BNP). India’s coverage institution has made the primary strikes on this path.
Additionally, the much-touted minority card might not align with India’s long-term pursuits in Bangladesh as Muhammad Yunus has clearly acknowledged that New Delhi should transfer “past the narrative that portrays each different political social gathering besides Awami League as Islamist”.
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So, what can India do otherwise? Properly, it might take a multi-pronged method, deploying diplomacy and worldwide regulation in tandem. It might additionally chorus from enjoying the minority card domestically, as short-term political mobilisation in India creates an equal and reverse response in Bangladesh. This on no account undermines India’s efforts to deal with the problem of security and safety of Bangladesh’s minority group utilizing the very best diplomatic channels. Briefly, strategic pragmatism is the necessity of the hour.
