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Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of ousted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has thanked India for granting asylum to his mother, and claimed that New Delhi saved his mother’s life as “militants” planned to assassinate her.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Joy expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for granting asylum to Sheikh Hasina, and alleged that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is operating freely in Bangladesh, claiming that its local module is linked to the recent Delhi Red Fort blast. “India has essentially saved my mother’s life. If she hadn’t left Bangladesh, the militants had planned on killing her,” he said.
Wazed dismissed the legal proceedings against Sheikh Hasina, and rejected legitimacy of Bangladesh’s extradition request, alleging violations of judicial norms in the cases against his mother. “They terminated 17 judges before the trial, amended laws illegally without parliamentary approval, and barred her defence attorneys from court proceedings. When there is no due process whatsoever, no country is going to extradite,” ANI quoted him as saying.
Joy expressed confidence that New Delhi would turn down Bangladesh’s extradition request, claiming that she was denied proper legal procedures by Dhaka.
Hasina, who was ousted from power and forced to flee Bangladesh in August last year, faced serious allegations, including war crimes like murder and torture, but Wazed claimed the judicial process has been fundamentally compromised by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, Sajeeb Wazed Joy made bombshell claims about the recent terror attacks in India, including the November 3 Delhi Red Fort blast. According to Wazed, banner terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba is operating freely in Bangladesh, and its local branch is linked to the recent terrorist attacks in India.
“I think Prime Minister Modi is probably very, very concerned about terrorism from Bangladesh,” he said, directly connecting the political upheaval in Dhaka to India’s security concerns. Wazed’s allegations come amid already strained relations between the two neighbours over treatment of minorities and border security, which arose following the fall of Sheikh Hasina in August last year.
Talking about the student protests that toppled Sheikh Hasina, Wazed claimed that Pakistan’s notorious spy agency, ISI, armed the militants who allegedly infiltrated the protest. “Without a doubt, these weapons had to have been supplied from somewhere in the subcontinent and the only possible source is ISI, ” the 54-year-old claimed, citing videos of armed individuals amongst demonstrators as ‘proof’.
Wazed also referenced recent remarks by US President Donald Trump, who allegedly stated that the previous Biden administration spent “millions of dollars on regime change in Bangladesh” through USAID funding. The Trump administration, Wazed suggested, appeared “more concerned about the threat of terrorism and the rise of Islamism in Bangladesh” than its predecessor, though he declined to confirm any direct contact with current US officials.
Sheikh Hasina, 78, was on Monday, sentenced to death in absentia by a three-judge bench of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for “crimes against humanity” over her government’s brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year.
