Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh for elections, her son says

NEW DELHI (Reuters): Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will return to her country when its new caretaker government decides to hold elections, her son said, but it was not clear if she would contest.

Hasina fled to neighboring India on Monday after weeks of deadly protests forced her to quit. A caretaker government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on Thursday and will be tasked with holding elections.

Speaking to the Times of India Daily, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is based in the U.S., said, “For the time being, she (Hasina) is in India. She will go back to Bangladesh the moment the interim government decides to hold an election.”

He did not specify whether Hasina, 76, will contest the elections. “My mother would have retired from politics after the current term,” Joy said. “I never had any political ambition and was settled in the US. But the developments in Bangladesh in the past few days show that there is a leadership vacuum. I had to get active for the sake of the party and I am at the forefront now,” he told the newspaper.

Hasina’s Awami League party does not feature in the interim government, following a student-led uprising against the long-time former prime minister whose exit came after nationwide violence killed about 300 people and injured thousands.

She is sheltering in a safe house in the New Delhi area. Indian media has reported that she plans to seek asylum in Britain, but the British Home Office has declined to comment.

India’s foreign minister said on Thursday he spoke to his British counterpart about Bangladesh but did not share any details.