Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday called for the ban on her Awami League party to be lifted and reaffirmed her plans to return to the country in December, directly challenging the government led by her rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Speaking during a media interaction hosted by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia in New Delhi, Hasina said she remained determined to return despite facing the possibility of imprisonment or worse.
"I will return to my people," Hasina said, adding that she would reveal the exact date and details of her return when the time was right.
"I know that they may put me in jail or they may kill me, anything may happen, but still I have to go back," she said.
The event, held on the second anniversary of her 2024 ouster, was Hasina's first media interaction since she fled Bangladesh. Although she had been expected to appear by video, she delivered only an audio message from behind a blank screen. It was not immediately clear why she did not appear on camera, unlike several Awami League leaders and her son, who spoke earlier.
