'Fear Cannot Decide My Duty To the People': Sheikh Hasina To Return To Bangladesh in December

New Delhi: Sheikh Hasina has expressed her desire to return to Bangladesh in December this year.

The former prime minister, who addressed a media interaction event in Delhi for the first time in two years after her ouster from Bangladesh in 2024 following a students’ protest, said, “Fear cannot decide my duty to the people.”

Despite the circumstances surrounding her departure from power, Hasina asserted that personal safety considerations would not override her responsibilities.

“I know, they may put me in jail or kill me…My return is not about power, it’s about putting Bangladesh back on track of development and secularism,” she added.

Hasina has claimed that a student-led quota reform movement was deliberately transformed into a campaign demanding her resignation, with “false propaganda” used in a coordinated manner to manipulate genuine protesters while organized groups exploited the unrest for violence and regime change.

In statements released from exile, Hasina said the character of the protests shifted sharply from July 15.

“Killings, arson, attacks, and looting began. State property was destroyed. Bangladesh Television was attacked and set on fire,” she said.

She questioned the expectations placed on security forces amid the escalating violence: “In such a situation, what is the duty of law enforcement? When police stations are burned, government buildings are attacked, public infrastructure is destroyed, officers are killed, and weapons are looted, does the state have no duty to protect life and property?”

Hasina further alleged that the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, which she described as illegal, halted investigations into the events and prevented the full truth from emerging.

She also called upon the international community to stand with people of Bangladesh “in their struggle for democracy and justice”.

She also expressed her gratitude to journalists who fearlessly reported on the political scenario of Bangladesh following her exile, despite the difficult circumstances prevailing in the country.

“I also thank the journalists who continue to follow events in Bangladesh with seriousness and courage. Journalism has a duty to seek truth, especially when power tries to hide it. In difficult moments of history, that duty becomes even more important. Today, I speak not only as someone who had the honour of serving Bangladesh five times as Prime Minister, but also as the daughter of the Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I speak as someone who has spent my life with the people of Bangladesh. I was forced away from my country, but I was never separated from my people,” she said.