Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to detail her plans to return home at her first virtual interaction with the media in New Delhi on Wednesday, exactly two years after she fled Dhaka following the fall of her government.
Hasina has lived in self-exile in India since she left Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, when the Awami League regime dramatically collapsed in the face of massive student-led protests. Her plans to virtually address the media are unlikely to go down well with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, which has sought her extradition.
The deposed 78-year-old is set to address the virtual news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in the evening on August 5, when she will “announce her homecoming and outline her vision for Bangladesh”, according to the organisers of the event.
ALSO READ | No change in India's stance, clarifies MEA as Hasina plans return to Bangladesh
Hasina's son, Awami league leaders to accompany
The event will also feature an address by Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and other Awami League leaders such as former education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and former cricketer and MP Shakib Al Hasan.
{{/usCountry}}The event will also feature an address by Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and other Awami League leaders such as former education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and former cricketer and MP Shakib Al Hasan.
{{/usCountry}}Mahammad Ali Siddique, general secretary of Bangladesh Human Rights Watch, Shah Mohammad Bakhtiar, director of Bangladesh Human Rights Watch USA, security analyst Aminul Hoque Polash, and counter-terrorism analyst Abu Obaidha Arin are also expected to join the event. Some of them will participate in person and others will appear virtually.
ALSO READ | 'Sheikh Hasina will be arrested before she can surrender': Bangladesh minister on deposed PM's return
While Hasina has given several email interviews and virtually addressed online events – including meetings organised by the Awami League and a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club this January – this is the first time she is expected to participate in a question-and-answer session.
Hasina, who has been sentenced to death by a tribunal in Dhaka for ordering the use of lethal force in the crackdown on student protesters, has said in recent interviews that she intends to go back to Bangladesh by December and surrender to the courts. Bangladesh’s law minister M Asaduzzaman said last week she is likely to be immediately arrested if she returns from India.
ALSO READ | 'Sheikh Hasina will be arrested before she can surrender': Bangladesh minister on deposed PM's return
Hasina in India
Hasina’s presence in India remains a key irritant in relations with the Bangladesh government, which has barred the local media from publishing or broadcasting the former PM’s interviews. Although the activities of the Awami League continue to be banned under an anti-terrorism law, several party leaders have signalled their intention to return to Bangladesh this year as part of efforts to revive the party.
Hasina told HT in May that her return is linked to a “democratic environment in Bangladesh, freedom of expression, political rights and the restoration of the rule of law”, which is also necessary for “protecting the country’s independence and sovereignty and ensuring the overall welfare of the people”.