Hasina accuses Yunus regime of ‘bartering’ Bangladesh to foreign interests, calls for overthrow

Ousted Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, said on Wednesday that her nation faces the threat of its territory and resources being ‘bartered’ away to foreign interests and called upon her countrymen to unite and ‘overthrow’ the interim regime led by Mohammad Yunus.

In a possible reference to the US, China, and especially Pakistan, gaining wider acceptance in the Yunus-led regime, Hasina said, “Dangerously, there is a treacherous plot to barter away the territory and resources of Bangladesh to foreign interests.”

Hasina’s recorded audio message in English was played at an event, ‘Save Democracy in Bangladesh’, in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. She exhorted her countrymen, reminding them about the ‘liberation war’ of 1971, and added, “Overthrow the foreign-serving puppet regime of Yunus.”

Hasina, who was ousted following public protests in August 2024, accused her successor and head of the interim government, Mohammad Yunus, of being a “murderous fascist, a money launderer, a plunderer, and a corrupt, power-hungry traitor who has bled our nation dry with his all-consuming paradigms”.

Speaking about the Yunus regime, Hasina said, “Violence, torture, and sexual assault against women remain unchecked. Religious minorities face continuous persecution.”

Mob terror, mass looting, armed robbery, and extortion reign supreme, she said, referring to targeted killings of the Hindu community in the past few months.

Bangladesh today stands at the edge of an abyss, battered and bleeding, navigating one of the most perilous chapters in its history, said Hasina, while terming the developments in the past as a ‘monstrous’ onslaught of extremist communal forces and foreign ‘perpetrators’ that had trampled upon the rights of women and minorities.

“The entire country has become a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of death,” said Hasina, going on to accuse Yunus of triggering her ouster using a “meticulously engineered conspiracy”.

Hasina had landed in Hindon near New Delhi on board a military plane in August 2024 and has since then not made any public appearance.

The false promises of Yunus have quickly been replaced by chaos, violence, hatred, and corruption, said Hasina, adding that her party, the Awami League, was committed to “restore the thriving homeland... restore the Constitution written in the blood of martyrs, reclaim our independence”.

Elections in Bangladesh are scheduled for February 12, and the Awami League has been banned from contesting.

Hasina gave a five-point call: First, restore democracy by removing the illegal Yunus administration. Bangladesh will never experience free and fair elections until the shadow of the Yunus clique is lifted from the people of Bangladesh. Second, put an end to the daily acts of violence we are seeing on our streets. Third, deliver an ironclad guarantee ensuring the safety of religious minority groups, women and girls, and the most vulnerable in our society. Fourth, end politically motivated acts of lawfare used to intimidate, silence, and jail journalists and members of the Bangladesh Awami League and opposition political parties. Restore trust in the judicial system, ensuring it functions properly. Fifth, invite the United Nations to conduct a new and truly impartial investigation into the events of the past year.

A few of her Cabinet ministers also joined the event online.