Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Alleges Assassination Plot Following Ouster

By Fnf Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 18, Jan 2025, 11:57 am IST | UPDATED: 18, Jan 2025, 11:57 am IST

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina claimed that a conspiracy aimed to assassinate her and her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, shortly after she was removed from power. In an audio message, Hasina recounted their narrow escape and stated they survived just 20-25 minutes apart.

Hasina, shared an audio message on the Awami League's Facebook, Sheikh Hasina said.

Rehana and I survived - just 20-25 minutes apart we escaped death", Sheikh Hasina said on an audio speech posted on the Facebook page of her Bangladesh Awami League party late on Friday," Sheikh Hasina said

Sheikh Hasina recalled that there were conspiracies to kill her at various times.

"I just feel that surviving the killings on August 21, or surviving the huge bomb in Kotalipara, surviving on this time August 5, 2024, there must be a will of Allah, a hand of Allah. Otherwise, I'm not going to survive this time!", she said.

In August last year, a student-led movement forced Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, out of power after weeks of protests and clashes that left over 600 people dead. Hasina, 76, fled to India, and an interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus was established.

"However, it seems to be a mercy of Allah that I am still alive because Allah wants me to do something more", she added.

"Although I am suffering, I am without my country, without my home, everything has been burned", she said in an emotionally tearful voice.

Sheikh Hasina faced heightened security due to multiple assassination attempts. One such incident was the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack, which occurred during an anti-terrorism rally organized by the Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. The attack, which happened at 5:22 pm after Sheikh Hasina, then the Leader of the Opposition, had addressed a crowd of 20,000 from the back of a truck, resulted in 24 deaths and over 500 injuries. Hasina herself sustained injuries in the attack.

(With ANI Inputs)