New Delhi, Aug 5: Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday declared that she is determined to return home in December to put the country on the “right track” as she is undeterred by the threat of imprisonment or a death sentence.
Hasina made the remarks during an audio-only virtual press conference — her first public media interaction since fleeing to India on August 5, 2024 in the face of a massive protest. Attendees were unable to see the former prime minister and heard only her voice.
“I know, they may put me in jail or kill me,” she said, adding “I will go back home to be with my people.”
The Awami League leader also described India as a “great friend” of Bangladesh and said it always stood by her country in times of difficulty.
In her comments, Hasina delved into the prevailing political environment in her country and the challenges facing its people, asserting that her return is not about power but to put Bangladesh back on the track of development, secularism and prosperity.
“Whatever fate awaits me, I will return to Bangladesh to be with my people. I cannot stay away while my beloved countrymen are suffering,” she said at the media interaction held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
“I may be detained, I may be sent to prison, they may frame me in fabricated cases but fear cannot decide my duty to the people. My life is beyond the calculations of personal safety,” she said.
The former prime minister also ruled out any back-channel negotiations with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government on her return.
“I am not worried about my own future. I am worried about the future of Bangladesh. I want to return because the people deserve security, development, prosperity and peace,” she added.
The former prime minister said that although she was “forced away” from her country, she was “never separated” from its people.
She said the people of Bangladesh deserve a state that protects them, an economy that gives them opportunity and democracy that gives them rights.
“My return and the return of the Awami League to the democratic process is not about power, it is to put Bangladesh on the right track. It is about reviving the country’s path of development, progress, secularism and stability,” she said.
“I want to return to Bangladesh with one purpose: to stand with the people,” she said.
Last November, Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal in Dhaka for alleged “crimes against humanity” over her government’s brutal crackdown on student-led protests in 2024.
Since the verdict, Dhaka has been urging New Delhi to extradite her to face the law.
Hasina said the present situation in Bangladesh is very disturbing.
“Fear has entered homes, workplaces, and educational campuses; this is not the Bangladesh we built.”
“I call upon the international community and all the friends of Bangladesh to stand with the people of Bangladesh in their struggle for democracy, justice and peace,” she said.
Hasina also demanded lifting the ban on the Awami League as well as the release of political prisoners.
“The ban on Awami League must be lifted, political prisoners must be released , false cases must be dropped, freedom of speech must be restored, media freedom must be protected and judicial independence must be guaranteed,” she said.
Hasina alleged that the protests in Bangladesh in July and August 2024 that resulted in the collapse of her government were not a peaceful student movement.
She alleged that “organised groups” worked to turn the movement into a “violent political instrument”.
“It was not simply a spontaneous students protest. There was no visible or responsible leadership. Instructions were given invisibly. It was organised and used to create a path to power outside the ballot box,” Hasina alleged.
To a question on whether she was in touch with the ruling dispensation in Dhaka, Hasina shot back: “It is their matter what it will do. I have decided to go. I will go.”
Though Hasina had given a series of e-mail interviews over the past few months, it was her first media interaction after taking shelter in India.
Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy claimed that political killings have been legalised in Bangladesh since August 2024.
Bangladesh today is a failed state, there is no law and order in the country today, he said.
What should concern New Delhi most is that Bangladesh has become another Pakistan on India’s eastern border, he alleged.
Several senior Awami League leaders also spoke at the news conference. (PTI)
