(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India last week, has accused the United States of orchestrating her ouster.
According to her, the U.S. took action against her after she refused to comply with Washington’s demands to cede Bangladesh’s Saint Martin Island, located in the northern Bay of Bengal.
Although the island spans only three square kilometers, its strategic geopolitical significance is highly valued by regional powers.
Sheikh Hasina claims that the U.S. intended to establish a military base on the coral island.
“I resigned to avoid witnessing more bloodshed. They wanted to seize power at the cost of student lives, but I would not allow it. I stepped down as Prime Minister,” she said in an article published by the Indian news portal, Economic Times.
“I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed the U.S. to dominate the Bay of Bengal. Please don’t be manipulated by radicals. If I had stayed in the country, more lives might have been lost. I left the country. You are my strength; you did not want me, so I left,” she added.
Saint Martin Island is a small coral island, situated approximately nine kilometers south of the southernmost tip of Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar Teknaf, near Myanmar.
The island covers an area of just three square kilometers and is home to around 3,700 residents, most of whom are involved in fishing and other local economic activities.
Recently, Saint Martin Island has drawn attention due to allegations that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, sought to sell the island to the U.S. for the establishment of a military base.
However, these claims have been denied by the U.S. State Department, which emphasized its respect for Bangladesh’s sovereignty and its commitment to promoting stability in the region.
Sheikh Hasina resigned following a month-long anti-government protest that spread across the nation, forcing the 76-year-old leader to end her over two-decade-long political influence.
The public uprising that led to her resignation was sparked by university students protesting against the allocation of one-third of civil service jobs to the descendants of Bangladesh’s independence war veterans.
Approximately 300 people have been killed since the anti-government protests erupted a month ago in opposition to the quota system.
Just hours after Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, 78, who had been imprisoned for 17 years on corruption charges since 2018. — DSA