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Indian publication The Print reports that she sent a message to supporters saying she would return soon
Published : 11 Aug 2024, 02:37 PM
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, currently in India, has broken her silence and accused foreign powers like the United States of playing a hand in her ouster, reports Indian publication The Print.
She made the remark days after the Indian government said it was analysing the possibility of a “foreign hand” behind the political crisis in Bangladesh.
“I could have remained in power if I had left St Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America,” she said in a message conveyed to her Awami League supporters on Saturday, seen by The Print.
Her government had strained relations with the US for many years, the report said. Ahead of the last election in January this year, Hasina said “a white man” had offered her a smooth return to power in exchange for an airbase.
In her latest statement, Hasina warned the new interim government not be “used” by such foreign powers.
The new interim government took their oaths on Thursday. The Bangladesh parliament was dissolved on Aug 6, after army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced Hasina’s resignation shortly after she fled the country.
“I resigned so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over your (students’) bodies, I did not allow it. I came with power,” read Hasina’s statement.
“Maybe if I was in the country today, more lives would have been lost, more wealth would have been destroyed,” she added.
Hasina is also expected to address the media while in India next week.
Over 300 people died during the student protests against Hasina. The US, UK Canada and other countries have called for investigations into the deaths of students. With the new interim government in Dhaka, Washington said it hopes it will “chart a democratic future” in Bangladesh.
‘I WILL RETURN SOON’
Hasina vowed to return to the country, though accepting her defeat in her message to supporters and party cadres.
“I will return soon, Inshallah. The defeat is mine, but the victory is [that of] the people of Bangladesh,” she stated.
“I removed myself, I came with your victory, you were my strength. You did not want me, I myself then left, resigned. My workers who are there, no one will lose morale. Awami League has stood up again and again,” she added.
The former prime minister also accused people of distorting her words.
“I want to repeat to my young students, I never called you Razakars…My words have been distorted,” she said in the message.
The term ‘Razakar’ refers to ‘collaborators’ to the Pakistan Army during Bangladesh’s 1971 war for independence.
