Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has taken shelter in India, should be extradited if she has committed crimes, said Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus.

"Why shouldn't she? If she has committed crimes, she should be extradited and brought to justice," he said responding to a question at the New York Times Climate Forward summit on Wednesday.

Prof Yunus said he did not have a timeframe for when Bangladesh would hold elections.

Several commissions that were formed are expected to provide their reform recommendations in the coming months, after which the country will set a date for polls.

Asked if he has any plans to run for office, Prof Yunus responded in the negative. "Do I look like someone who would run?"

Turning to the climate issue, he said the Paris Agreement, the global accord for limiting the effects of climate change, won't work as long as the world sticks to the current economic system, according to The New York Times.

That system, he said, is centred on maximising profits, creating wealth for a tiny group of people and generating massive waste.

"The economic system we have built is key to the destruction of this planet," said Prof Yunus, adding that humans had created a "self-destructive civilisation."

No matter what changes were made to the agreement, it would not make a difference until the world's underlying systems were redesigned, he said.

Developing countries like Bangladesh should not have to bear the burden of the climate damage done by their wealthier counterparts.

"Why should we carry the burden of all the destruction that you put on us? You are the cause; we are the result."

He added that individuals should also bear the responsibility of producing less waste and shrinking their fossil fuel footprint.

Jane Goodall, a celebrated British scientist; Vicki Hollub, president of Occidental Petroleum; Mohamed Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana; Kevin D Roberts, president of Heritage Foundation; and Ali Zaidi, President Biden's climate adviser, spoke at the event among others.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon all, including the leaders and activists of Awami League and its associate bodies, to plant at least three saplings to make Bangladesh a much greener country.

The Prime Minister made the call while inaugurating Bangladesh Krishok League's three-month-long tree plantation campaign at her official residence Gono Bhaban.

The government wants to ensure overall economic development of the country while protecting its environment and surroundings, Hasina said.

Hoping to see a livelier and much better environment in the country, she mentioned that the government is implementing various programmes to this end.

The Prime Minister said forestation in Bangladesh has gone up to 22 percent from a mere 7 percent due to massive afforestation across the country under her governance.

Hasina said such steps will help improve the country's environment. Alongside expanding afforestation, this is how Bangladesh will be able to set an example in the world.

About the plantation campaign, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh Awami League decided in 1983 to observe countrywide tree plantation campaigns on the 1st day of Asharh every year before proceeding with afforestation programmes.

She requested the leaders, workers, and well-wishers of Awami League and its associate bodies as well as those who believe in Bangabandhu's ideology to plant at least one fruit, one wood, and one medicinal sapling.

The chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal has sought an Interpol red notice for the arrest of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Chief Prosecutor Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam's office on Sunday wrote to the Interpol through the inspector general of police (IGP).

Hasina is accused of committing crimes against humanity and she is a fugitive, he told reporters in front of his office yesterday, adding that the IGP would forward the letter to the international organisation which facilitates worldwide police cooperation.

"There is an arrest warrant for her [in Bangladesh]…. We requested Interpol to arrest her or at least issue a red notice," he said.

A red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action, according to the Interpol website.

Over 100 complaints of crimes against humanity have been filed against Hasina, said prosecutors.

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Bringing back fugitives: Govt to ask for Interpol’s red notice

Tajul said the tribunal also issued arrest warrants for four absconding police officers on charges of committing atrocities in the capital's Jatrabari during the mass uprising.

"Journalists and citizens filmed how a young man, injured in the leg, was rescued by his colleague and was being taken away, when Zakir Hossain, then officer-in-charge of Jatrabari Police Station, went close to them and shot him in the chest to ensure his death," he said.

The tribunal has also granted permission to the prosecutors to interrogate Maj Gen (sacked) Ziaul Ahsan, now in jail, for a day.

The three-judge panel of the ICT led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder gave the permission.

The date of Ziaul's interrogation will not be revealed for security concerns, he said. 

"He was involved in numerous murders and enforced disappearances. The ICT probe body has evidence," he said.