Hasina drops no hint of remorse

Bangladesh’s ousted premier, Sheikh Hasina’s written interviews flaunt an utter lack of contrition. There is not a hint of remorse, not a sliver of guilt. The interviews published by Indian outlets yesterday — the Hindustan Times, New Indian Express and the Hindu — or the ones by Reuters, AFP and the UK’s Independent (published on October 29) show that former prime minister, in exile in India since August 5, 2024, remains thoroughly unencumbered by even a touch of introspection or self-doubt.

Going a step further, The Week, also based in India, published a column by Hasina where she deplores the ineptitude of the very institutions her regime had meticulously destroyed. She flails against the interim government for not having the people’s mandate, which she had manufactured to stay in power for years through rigged elections. She berates the BNP for trying to manipulate the caretaker government system, which her regime had abolished. Her deluded sense of being wronged pervades the entire article.

The closest Hasina comes to acknowledging some error of her administration in the article is one that she had already mentioned in her written interviews. She writes, “I mourn the life of every Bangladeshi that has been needlessly lost since the protests in the summer of 2024. While the vast majority of law-enforcement officers acted within their guidelines, mistakes were very clearly made in the way some members of the security forces responded to the rapid upsurge of violence.”

Hasina goes on to write that it was a very fluid and “febrile situation”, and clearly there were “breakdowns of discipline within the chain of command”.

She then states, “However, the Awami League categorically rejects the allegations that we were directly responsible for, or commanded the use of, lethal force against our own citizens. To characterise what happened as a plot by a democratically elected government to commit violence against its own people is entirely wrong. Indeed, I personally took steps to ensure that no firearms were used.”

Throughout all her interviews Hasina maintains that the evidence against her, audio clips of phone calls, were either doctored or taken out of context. She also rejects the UN human rights office estimate that 1,400 people were killed during the July uprising as “inflated”.

She told in her interview with the Hindustan Times rejecting her role in the crackdown, “But to suggest that I was directing minute-by-minute tactical responses from the prime minister’s office is to fundamentally misunderstand how security forces work. I repeat, at no point did I authorise security forces to fire on crowds.”

The Daily Star’s own investigation found Hasina to have personally authorised the use of lethal weapons. This newspaper had reported on a phone recording from July 18, 2024 where Hasina tells her nephew, former Dhaka South Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, “I have given instructions, now I have given direct instructions; now they will use lethal weapons. Wherever they find them [protesters], they will shoot directly.”

The 78-year-old former leader took the opportunity to express her gratitude to India for offering refuge. “I am deeply grateful to the Indian people for providing me with a safe haven,” she said. “The connections between our two countries are broad and deep. We pride ourselves on being India’s reliable partner.”

While her interviews with the international agencies and the UK newspaper appeared to be somewhat balanced, the ones carried by the Indian outlets are far more incendiary. Sheikh Hasina’s lack of self-reproach aside, the latest round of interviews shirks from providing any context that explain Hasina’s hasty departure. There is little that sheds light on the weeks of untold violence preceding her flight. There is hardly any mention of Hasina’s 17 years of misrule when Bangladesh descended into an autocracy.

Her interviews and the writeup attempts to portray the Yunus-led government as a usurper without any acknowledgement of how the Awami League regime had fuelled discontent among the protesters as well as the general populace. The underlying message has been the next election will not be inclusive without the Awami League, whose activities are currently banned, taking part.

The publication of six interviews and one column could not have happened without the knowledge or consent of Hasina’s host country. Together with the former premier’s writeup, this move can only be seen as an attempt to somehow influence the ensuing election. Hasina is still seen as the one responsible for hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries during the July uprising alone. She would do well to remember that such interviews will not even begin to restore Awami League’s image. Hasina’s hosts would do well to remember that under the current circumstances they should refrain from activities that will further their distance from the people of Bangladesh.