The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main Opposition party when former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was in power, held a rally at Naya Paltan in Dhaka, where thousands of people gathered from different parts of the country. 

Addressing the rally virtually from London, Tarique Rahman, BNP acting chairman and son of former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, called for immediate election in the country. “The national election must be held immediately, and power must be handed over to the elected representatives,” he said.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said election should be held within three months.

An entry gate of the Indian Air Force station at Hindon, where ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina landed on August 05, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India following mass protests against her government, is going to stay in Delhi “for a little while,” her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said on Wednesday (August 7, 2024).

Ms. Hasina, the 76-year-old Awami League leader, landed at an airbase near Delhi on Monday (August 5, 2024) and later shifted to a safe location in Delhi under tight security. She is accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana.

Follow LIVE updates from the crisis in Bangladesh on August 07, 2024

In a video interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Mr. Joy was asked about Ms. Hasina’s reported plans to seek asylum in a third country.

“These are all rumours. She has not made a decision on that yet. She is going to stay in Delhi for a little while. My sister is with her. So she is not alone,” Mr. Joy said.

Ms. Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed is World Health Organisation’s Regional Director for the South-East Asia Region, which has its headquarters in New Delhi.

Ms. Hasina’s plan to travel to London has hit a roadblock following the U.K.’s hesitation to provide her refuge. Ms. Rehana’s daughter Tulip Siddiq is a member of the British Parliament.

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Mr. Joy, who spoke on the current volatile situation in Bangladesh, was also asked if he has any plan to join politics when he laughed it off saying: “There is no such plan right now. This is the third time a coup d’état was staged against our family.”

All his family members, except Ms. Hasina, were already staying abroad for a long time and settled in their respective lives, he said and answered in negative to Sheikh Rehana and or any other family member’s chance of joining politics.