Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has dismissed reports which claimed her mother was seeking asylum in other countries. The 53-year-old, who previously served as the advisor to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister on information and communication technology affairs, thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saving his mother’s life. Since her abrupt resignation on August 5 amidst violent anti-government protests, Hasina fled to India and is now in a secret location.
Speaking to Indian news agency ANI, Joy also dismissed media reports of a revocation of his mother’s visa. Earlier, there were reports that the US had revoked the Awami League leader’s visa.
“No one has revoked her visa. She has not applied for political asylum anywhere. Those are all rumors,” Joy told ANI.
“My message to the government of India, is my personal gratitude to Prime Minister Modi for his government’s quick action in saving my mother’s life. I am eternally grateful,” he said. “India needs to take a leadership role in the world, and not let other foreign powers dictate the situation. Because this is India’s neighbourhood. This is India’s eastern side.”
Joy also took a jab at the West for the unrest in Bangladesh, that ultimately led to his mother’s ouster. While he said that there was no direct link which he was aware of, the West was quick to congratulate the new interim government in the country, led by Novel laureate Muhammad Yusuf. The new government took oath on August 8.
“Was the US directly involved? I don’t know. I have no evidence. But if you look at the situation and the protests, you see the protests were incited and inflamed every step of the way,” he said.
“The protesters started attacking the police while bearing firearms. Where did these protesters get firearms? Only a foreign intelligence service can supply firearms in a country. Foreign has instigated and supported this. I don’t know if it’s from the western side, but if you look at who these protesters have selected — Yunus. He’s a darling of the west. They’ve been championing him, trying to get him into politics for decades. The west was the first to congratulate his government and support it. So, I think they’re making it quite obvious that they probably had some involvement in this whole matter,” Wazed claimed.
