The Bangladesh government has expressed strong anger over ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina participating in a live discussion with the media in New Delhi, India.

The anger was expressed in a statement sent to the media by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday (August 5) evening.

The ministry’s statement said that Bangladesh is angry that the fugitive convicted genocide convict Sheikh Hasina was given the opportunity to participate in a live discussion with the media in New Delhi. There, she and her associates made insults against the state and people of Bangladesh.

Stating that Dhaka deeply regrets the incident, the ministry said that permission was given to organize this public event despite the Indian government’s prior concerns about the possible consequences of this incident in the context of the restructuring of bilateral relations.

The statement further said that on the day the people of Bangladesh are celebrating the second anniversary of the July Revolution, Sheikh Hasina’s talk on Indian soil is an insult to the sovereignty of Bangladesh and a grave insult to the martyrs of the July Revolution.

The Foreign Ministry says that denying the truth established by the United Nations and denying the brutal killing of innocent citizens, even children, by the fascist regime in July-August 2024 is a failed attempt by the fugitive convicted genocide convict Hasina and her criminal gang to reverse the course of history. The people of Bangladesh have rejected such heinous attempts in the past, and are doing so even now.

The statement also mentioned that our people, holding the spirit of the July Revolution, have firmly resolved that Bangladesh will never return to the dark days of fascism.

The ministry said that Bangladesh will never become a ‘client state’. Convicted genocide convict Hasina and her ‘mafia gang’ have no place in Bangladeshi politics.

Referring to the relations between the two countries, the statement said, Bangladesh is keen to maintain constructive, mutually beneficial and forward-looking relations with India on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and national dignity.

It also said that unfortunately, the Indian government has not yet responded to repeated requests to send Hasina, a convicted criminal, back to Bangladesh under the extradition treaty signed between Bangladesh and India in 2013.

Rather, the Bangladesh government believes that giving her the opportunity to interact with the media publicly on any pretext has deeply hurt the sentiments of our people and has proven detrimental to the harmonious development of Bangladesh-India relations.