Sheikh Hasina, who resigned as Bangladesh’s prime minister and fled the country on Monday following weeks of protests, did not want to leave at all but did so on the family’s insistence, his US-based son and former Chief Advisor Sajeeb Wajed Joy told NDTV.
“She wanted to stay, she did not want to leave the country at all. But we kept insisting that it wasn’t safe for her. We were concerned for her physical safety first; so we persuaded her to leave,” her son Joy told NDTV’s Marya Shakil in a telephonic interview.
“I spoke to her this morning. The situation in Bangladesh, as you can see, is anarchy. She is in good spirits but she is very disappointed. It’s very disheartening for her because it was her dream to turn Bangladesh into a developed country and she worked so hard for it over the last 15 years, keeping it safe from militants and as well as from terrorism and in spite of all of that this vocal minority, the opposition, the militants have now seized power,” he said.
Her flight came less than seven months after she celebrated a fourth straight term in power – and fifth overall – by sweeping national elections in January.
The 76-year-old was flown in a military helicopter on Monday with her sister to take refuge in India. She is expected to leave for London later, sources told NDTV, where she may seek political asylum.
Her son, however, said he did not discuss with her where she is headed now.
Her last 15 years in power were marked by arrests of opposition leaders, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent, and she resigned in the face of deadly student-led protests that have killed hundreds.
Protests began in June after student groups’ demands for the scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs escalated into a movement seeking the end of her rule.
“We hope that there will be elections in Bangladesh but at this time with our party leaders being targeted I don’t see how free and fair elections would be possible. In a way, it is no longer the family’s responsibility. We have shown what we can do. We have shown How much we can develop Bangladesh and if the people of Bangladesh aren’t willing to stand up and they are willing to let this violent minority seize power then people get the leadership they deserve,” said his son.
Pressed to answer if his mother did the best for the country, he said, “Absolutely. Awami League still remains the most popular party in the country. BNP has the chance to come back to power and we have seen what they were like the last time. They ran the country to the ground. The militants had a free hand; they attacked the minorities with impunity.”
Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of jailed former prime minister and key opposition leader Khaleda Zia, hours after her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina was ousted and the military took power.
Bangladesh’s army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Hasina had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government.
“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” said Waker, shortly after jubilant crowds stormed and looted Hasina’s official residence.
Bangladesh’s Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the prime minister’s compound, grinning and waving to the camera, looting furniture and books, or relaxing on beds.
The military said it would lift a curfew imposed to quash protests at dawn Tuesday.
“I doubt army will be able to normalise things that fast. Because right now what is happening is that the opposition and the militants, they are not only vandalising, they are also hunting out our leaders, former ministers and even what I am hearing minorties. I don’t think the violence has ended,” said Mr Joy.
Mobs raided and ransacked the homes of Hasina’s Awami League party allies as well as police stations, witnesses told news agency AFP.
Crowds smashed statues of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence hero, and set fire to a museum dedicated to him.
“The emotion is one of disappointment, anger, that my grandfather liberated the country and they killed him and my entire family. And now the same powers, these are the minorities that opposed the independence of Bangladesh are using this opportunity to basically deny and destroy our hard-fought struggle for freedom. And it’s very disheartening to see that the majority of Bangladesh is staying silent,” said Mr Joy.
The south Asian nation has a long history of coups.
The military declared an emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government for two years.
