India pressed US to go easy on Bangladeshi leader before her ouster, officials say
After Indian lobbying, Washington toned down its criticism of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Now both countries must confront whether they mishandled Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina. File Photo: Collected
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Sheikh Hasina. File Photo: Collected
A year before she was deposed last week in a student uprising, Indian officials began to lobby their U.S. counterparts to stop pressuring Sheikh Hasina, the ironfisted prime minister of neighbouring Bangladesh, according to US and Indian officials.
US diplomats had publicly harangued the 76-year-old Hasina for jailing thousands of her rivals and critics ahead of an election scheduled for last January, reports The Washington Post.
The Biden administration had sanctioned a Bangladeshi police unit under Hasina’s command accused of carrying out extrajudicial abductions and killings and had threatened imposing visa restrictions on Bangladeshis who undermined democracy or committed human rights abuses.
But in a series of meetings, Indian officials demanded that the United States tone down its pro-democracy rhetoric. If the opposition were allowed to gain power in an open election, Indian officials argued, Bangladesh would become a breeding ground for Islamist groups posing a threat to India’s national security.
