Bangladesh and its people are focused on the coming election and the opportunity to make it a joyful turning point in the nation’s history—transitioning from autocracy and repression to democracy and prosperity. Efforts to destabilize the country and push false and distorted narratives are falling flat, both in their attempts to create divisions within Bangladesh and also between the country and its powerful neighbor, India. But continued vigilance will be required to keep that nation on course for a peaceful and celebratory election in February.
The aftermath of the verdict against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina aroused strong emotions both inside Bangladesh and beyond. Human rights organizations that oppose the death penalty in all cases—a position many Friends of Bangladesh leaders share—announced their concerns. It is certainly far from ideal that Hasina remains a fugitive from justice and could only be tried in absentia. It is also unfortunate that she and other leaders in her party who fled the country in August 2024 are allowed to continue their efforts to destabilize Bangladesh, including predictions of and calls for violence, some more explicit than others.
A thoughtful article about the verdict was published in India by The Print, one of the more courageous media companies there. Written in his personal capacity by Faisal Mahmud, the Press Minister of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, it was titled, “Hasina’s was a trial in absentia, but not a trial without justice.” It argued that the trial was necessary and just, even if some viewed it as flawed in certain respects. “Evaluated within its social and historical context,” Mahmud wrote, “the tribunal’s decision, in principle, embodied a ‘genuine sense’ of justice. This case stands out not just for its extensive evidence, which included multiple audio records (some independently verified by BBC and Al Jazeera), but for the unusual clarity in establishing command responsibility.
“The tribunal’s nearly 500-page judgment meticulously utilized corroborated witness accounts, expert analyses, and recordings that directly implicated the ousted Prime Minister in the deadly suppression from July to August in 2024.”
He concluded by comparing the trial favorably with others in the nation’s history, writing, “There were no mysterious witness disappearances, no questionable confessions, no speculative evidentiary leaps, and certainly no coercion of judges.
“The prosecution instead built its case using contemporary documentation, forensic analysis, retrieved original audio recordings, and testimony from survivors who recounted events from just a year earlier.”
In the meantime, relations between Bangladesh and India appear to be thawing. One example was the recent meeting between the National Security Advisers of both countries on the sidelines of the Colombo Security Conclave that was held in New Delhi. Another was that in the wake of the Hasina verdict, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs simply “noted” this development, showing encouraging restraint (hopefully in support of improved bilateral relations).
Perhaps India is responding to the calls of business leaders such as Vinod Khosla, the legendary Indian-American venture capitalist, who wrote a powerful op-ed article that called for improved bilateral relations between the two nations, which are natural allies. He put such an opportunity in a global context, writing, “I am confident that Prime Minister Modi and Chief Adviser Yunus will see the opportunity for improved bilateral relations for what it is: a no-brainer that will nonetheless require courage and wisdom to seize. It could start with a substantive meeting of their foreign ministers next month.
“Changing the trajectory of Indo-Bangladesh relations,” Khosla continued, “could be one of the most lasting legacies of both governments. It could serve as a model and even inspiration for a course change by leaders in other global hot spots where tensions and conflict are continuing… In fact, a thawing of relations between India and Bangladesh now is critical for global progress.”
Respected journalists in Bangladesh, such as Dhaka Courier editor-in-chief Shayan Khan, continue to criticize efforts by people close to Hasina to incite anti-Bangladesh sentiment and policies in India based on wild conspiracy theories, false narratives, and the apparent view that Bangladesh should be subservient to India. In a long post on Facebook, Khan wrote that Hasina’s son, from his base in the United States, “Tr[ies] to invite, or rather incite, India into doing something to somehow intervene [in Bangladesh] and put an end to their misery, for which they are ready to lick a billion Indian feet for life if needed…
“But do they really believe, after all that has happened, that a Bangladeshi can go on Indian media and say something so shamelessly slavish (“This is India’s backyard. This is not any other country’s backyard”), so nauseatingly subservient, and still hope to do politics here? Never. Not a chance in hell. But by going around saying stuff like this, they just make sure they will never even be allowed to set foot on this soil again.”
In fact, leaders of the Awami League, a once-proud party, have been working unsuccessfully for more than a year to create tension and conflict between Bangladesh and both the U.S. and Indian governments.
The Chief Adviser’s Press Wing and Rumor Scanner Bangladesh continue to work overtime to debunk fake claims on social media that try to sow discord within Bangladesh and between the nation and its neighbors and allies. See this recent example and also this one.
The Press Wing also made the important point that a recent Reuters story’s statement that nearly half of the Bangladesh population supports the Awami League relies on a suspect source for this assertion—none other than the Awami League itself! In fact, a September 2025 poll by Innovision revealed that just 18.8% of Bangladeshi voters would support the Awami League in an election. It further showed that the party had the highest level of dissatisfaction (33.4%) and the lowest level of satisfaction (15.5%) among the major parties.
All of us who care about Bangladesh should remain alert to the coming waves of disinformation, even as the country looks forward to a successful election and turning the page on a dark chapter in its history.
