‘Escaped death by 20 minutes’: Deposed Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina claims political opponents conspired to kill her

“We escaped death by just 20-25 minutes. I feel surviving the killings on August 21, surviving the large bomb in Kotalipara, or surviving on August 5, 2024, there must be a will of Allah, the hand of Allah. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have survived this time,” she is heard saying in Bangla in the brief audio note released by her party on its Facebook page.

Hasina referred to the August 21, 2004 grenade attack, which she survived with injuries, though it killed at least 24 people. She also mentioned the Kotalipara bomb conspiracy, where bombs were discovered in July 2000 at a college she was supposed to visit.

In her audio message, Hasina, who is wanted in Bangladesh on corruption charges, said the world had witnessed how her opponents plotted to kill her. She asserted her survival was due to Allah’s will, as she believes she still has more to accomplish.

The former premier became emotional, saying, “I am suffering, I am without my country, my home, everything has been burned.”

Bangladesh has formally requested India to extradite Hasina. The Indian foreign ministry has confirmed receiving a note on the matter but has not commented further.

Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, led Bangladesh until her resignation on August 5, 2024, following violent student protests. Facing threats to her life, she fled to India, a country with longstanding ties to her family, alongside her sister Rehana. Minutes after their departure, a mob broke into her home, looting and vandalising the empty property.

On August 5 last year, security forces gave Sheikh Hasina 45 minutes to evacuate her official Ganobhaban residence, warning that an angry mob was heading towards the government establishment and her life was at risk.

Hasina was first flown to a nearby military air base, after which an air force plane transported her and her sister Rehana to India.

Shortly after her departure from Ganobhaban, the mob vandalised the prime minister’s residence and set fire to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s house-turned-museum at 32 Dhanmondi.

This period was marked by political unrest involving Hasina’s allies and attacks on Hindu minorities, straining relations between India and Bangladesh.

Currently, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, with backing from the armed forces, is in power in Bangladesh.

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