Pakistan terms Sheikh Hasina's death sentence an internal matter of Bangladesh

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Pakistan on Friday termed the recent death sentence handed to former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina as an internal matter, saying the people of Bangladesh were fully capable of resolving their political issues through their own constitutional mechanisms.

A Bangladeshi court sentenced Hasina to death earlier this week after a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.

The verdict comes just months before national elections expected in early February.

During the weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Islamabad had received multiple inquiries about the development.

“This is an internal matter of Bangladesh,” he stated.

Key events in Bangladesh as Hasina sentenced to death

“The people of Bangladesh are fully capable of addressing their issues in accordance with their democratic and constitutional processes.”

Hasina was convicted of authorising lethal force by a special tribunal in Dhaka, 15 months after she resigned and fled to India amid mass protests.

Hasina's Awami League party has been barred from contesting the elections and it is feared that the verdict could stoke fresh unrest ahead of the vote.

During the trial, prosecutors told the court that they had uncovered evidence of her direct command to use lethal force to suppress a student-led uprising in July and August 2024.

According to a United Nations report, up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024, with thousands more injured — most of them by gunfire from security forces.