Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday alleged that there were attempts to assassinate her and her sister Sheikh Rehana after she was ousted from power by a student-led protest movement in August last year.
“Rehana and I managed to survive. We barely escaped the clutches of death within a span of 20-25 minutes,” Hasina was heard saying in an audio message shared by Awami League’s Facebook page.
Hasina fled to India after resigning as the Prime Minister in August in the face of massive anti-government protests, minutes before an enraged mob ransacked her residence.
“I feel it is the will of Allah that I have survived the killings on August 21, the bombing in Kotalipara or surviving on August 5. Otherwise, I would not have been able to survive,” she said in Bengali. Hasina was referring to the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack, which killed 24 people. Hasina, a leader of the opposition who was addressing a rally at the time, also sustained some injuries.
She also referred to the Kotalipara bomb conspiracy, when bombs were recovered from a college in 2000 that Hasina was supposed to visit.
“You later saw how they planned to kill me. However, it seems to be a mercy of Allah that I am still alive because Allah wants me to do something more,” she said in the audio message.
The former Bangladesh PM also broke down while saying, “I am suffering, I am without my country, without my home, everything has been burned.”
Hasina’s Exile Under Scanner
Bangladesh’s interim government has called on the Indian government to extradite Sheikh Hasina and sent a diplomatic note to the Ministry of External Affairs, although the latter did not respond to it. The International Crimes Tribunal for Bangladesh has issued two arrest warrants for her for alleged enforced disappearances during her 15-year rule.
Earlier this month, Bangladesh revoked Hasina’s passport citing her alleged involvement in killings and forced disappearances linked to the last year’s students protests, along with the passports of 96 other individuals.
