GUWAHATI: Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has blamed the USA for ousting her from power.
Hasina, who is currently in India, alleged that she had been ousted for not handing over Saint Martin Island that would have enabled them to have “sway over the Bay of Bengal” and cautioned Bangladeshi nationals not to get manipulated by radicals.
“I resigned, so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it, I resigned from premiership. I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech to the people of my land, ‘Please do not be manipulated by radicals,” The Economic Times quoted Sheikh Hasina as saying.
“If I had remained in the country, more lives would have been lost, more resources would have been destroyed. I made the extremely difficult decision to exit. I became your leader because you chose me, you were my strength,” Hasina stated.
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“My heart cries upon receiving news that many leaders have been killed, workers are being harassed and their homes are subjected to vandalism and arson…With the grace of almighty Allah I will return soon. Awami League has stood up again and again. I shall forever pray for the future of Bangladesh, the nation which my great father strived for. The country for which my father and family gave their lives.”
The Ex-Bangladesh Prime Minister said, “I would like to repeat to the young students of Bangladesh. I have never called you Razakars. Rather My words were distorted to incite you. I request you to watch the full video of that day. Conspirators have taken advantage of innocence and used you to destabilise the nation.”
Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world was elected to power for a fifth term only seven months ago in January. Her uninterrupted 15-year tenure as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister came to a dramatic end on August 5, when she fled the country amidst a mass street uprising of students and also joined by millions of people.
The unrest, which began with protests over job quotas on 1 July and escalated into calls for Hasina’s resignation, reached a tipping point with violent clashes in the first week of August.
Awami League leaders close to Hasina blamed the USA for the regime change in Dhaka and alleged that a senior USA diplomat who visited Dhaka in May was responsible for this.
