‘Diplomatically unusual’: Former foreign secy slams US, EU messages on Hadi’s death in Bangladesh

Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal has strongly criticised the public condolences issued by Western diplomatic missions in Bangladesh following the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, calling the messaging “diplomatically unusual” and raising questions about Western double standards on democracy, secularism and minority rights in the region. 

In a sharply worded social media post, Sibal questioned why the US Embassy, the European Union, and the German and French missions chose to give high political prominence to the death of Hadi — a figure he said had no evident international or bilateral significance. 

“Diplomatically unusual for the US, EU, German and French missions in BD to give so much political prominence to the murder of a student leader whose importance in the bilateral or international context is not readily apparent,” Sibal wrote. 

What the western missions said 

Following Hadi’s death, the US Embassy in Bangladesh issued a condolence message stating: “The US Embassy joins the people of Bangladesh in mourning the loss of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi and offers our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and supporters.” 

The European Union Mission in Bangladesh said in its message: “We are deeply saddened by the death of Sharif Osman Hadi and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends and all those affected.” 

Messages of condolence were also posted by the German and French missions, aligning with the broader Western diplomatic response condemning the killing and urging accountability. 

Islamist links, anti-India rhetoric 

Sibal said the reactions become more intriguing when viewed against Hadi’s ideological positioning. He pointed out that Hadi had Islamist affiliations and was linked to Inquilab Mancha, an organisation whose stated objective was to Islamise Bangladesh — a country that is constitutionally secular. 

More significantly for New Delhi, Sibal pointed out that Hadi was “deeply hostile to India”, including making claims over India’s northeast, adding that this gives the Western diplomatic messaging a clear regional context. 

“Therefore in the regional context, a particular message is going out to India,” Sibal said. 

Domestic political undercurrents 

The former diplomat also drew attention to Inquilab Mancha’s political demands, noting that the group had been campaigning for the banning of the Awami League and for its exclusion from the upcoming elections. 

Sibal linked this to long-standing Western criticism of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, stating: “The grouse of these Western countries was that Sheikh Hasina was not democratic enough.” 

He argued that the Western mourning of Hadi could not be divorced from these broader political pressures on Dhaka. 

Democracy, Sharia and ‘Double Standards’ 

Questioning the consistency of Western positions, Sibal said it was difficult to reconcile public mourning for a figure associated with the introduction of Sharia law with Western advocacy for democracy and minority rights in Bangladesh. 

“This mourning of a person whose organisation is to introduce Sharia in BD sits ill with democracy and minority rights in BD,” he wrote. 

He also highlighted acts of vandalism allegedly carried out by Hadi’s supporters, including the torching of buildings associated with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader — which Sibal described as repeated attempts to disown the country’s freedom struggle. 

“Do these western embassies approve of all this?” he asked, calling the episode “another case of western double standards and hypocrisy”. 

Sibal concluded by underlining that official diplomatic statements of this nature are typically reserved for figures of clear international relevance, making the coordinated Western response to Hadi’s death all the more striking. “Normally such official statements are issued when the individual involved has international importance,” he noted.