Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh for elections, her son says

Speaking to the Times of India daily, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is based in the U.S., said, “For the time being, she (Hasina) is in India. She will go back to Bangladesh the moment the interim government decides to hold an election.”

He did not specify whether Hasina, 76, will contest elections. “My mother would have retired from politics after the current term,” Joy said.

“I never had any political ambition and was settled in the US. But the developments in the Bangladesh in the past few days show that there is a leadership vacuum. I had to get active for the sake of the party and I am at the forefront now,” he told the newspaper.

Hasina’s Awami League party does not feature in the interim government, following a student-led uprising against the long-time former prime minister whose exit came after nationwide violence killed about 300 people and injured thousands.

She is sheltering in a safe house in the New Delhi area. Indian media has reported that she plans to seek asylum in Britain, but the British Home Office has declined to comment.

India’s foreign minister said on Thursday he spoke to his British counterpart about Bangladesh, but did not share any details.