Overview
- Bangladesh has requested the return of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after a special tribunal handed her a death sentence, placing immediate pressure on New Delhi.
- India can legally decline extradition under the 2013 pact if it judges the case politically driven, fears persecution, or objects to enforcing a death sentence.
- Reporting describes an interim government in Dhaka led by Muhammad Yunus that is slowing India-backed projects and reopening channels with Beijing and Islamabad.
- Analysts and local reports note the reactivation of Islamist networks, including Jamaat-e-Islami, alongside rising intimidation and attacks targeting Hindu minorities.
- The United States moved quickly to engage the interim authorities, as debate over St. Martin’s Island and wider Bay of Bengal access deepens the regional strategic stakes.