New York, 10 August 2024 (TDI): The ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, will return to the country when elections are declared, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said.
Hasina, who resigned and fled the country earlier this week following a massive unrest, is currently in New Delhi, India.
Bangladeshi media say more than five hundred people were killed in weeks of protests against Hasina. Many of them were shot by the police.
Thousands were wounded in the worst violence the South Asian country has seen since its war of independence in 1971.
Absolutely, she will come the country, Wazed said, adding his mother will return as and when the interim government decides to hold the elections.
The military-backed caretaker government, headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday along with sixteen advisers.
Two of the student protest leaders are among the advisers.
Wazed is an information technology expert who now lives in the United States.
He worked as an IT adviser for Hasina for several years during her tenure as prime minister from 2009 to 2024.
Wazed said whether his mother comes back into politics or not, that decision has not been made. She is quite fed up with how she was treated.
The student-led movement began as a protest against quotas in civil service jobs in July before becoming massive unrest to oust Hasina following a brutal police crackdown.
Also read More: Sheikh Hasina: An Iconic Pro-Democracy Figure Turned Autocrat
Her son is confident that when the elections are held, the Awami League, the party of Sheikh Hasina, will emerge victorious.
“I am convinced that if you have polls in Bangladesh today, and if they are free and fair and if there is a level playing field, then the Awami League will win,” he said.
Hasina became prime minister for a fourth consecutive term in a controversial vote held in January 2024.
