Sheikh Hasina Accuses Yunus of Her Ouster in Speech

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered a sharp rebuke of the country's interim government on Friday, accusing Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus of orchestrating her ouster and plunging the nation into chaos ahead of February 12 national elections. Speaking via a prerecorded audio message at a press conference in New Delhi's Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia, Hasina urged citizens to unite and overthrow what she called a "foreign-serving puppet regime."

Hasina, who fled to India in August 2024 amid widespread student-led protests that ended her 16-year rule, described Bangladesh as standing "at the edge of an abyss." She alleged that since her removal on August 5, 2024, the country has entered "an age of terror," with democracy in exile and human rights systematically violated. According to Hasina, freedom of the press has been extinguished, violence and torture against women and girls go unchecked, religious minorities face persecution, and law and order have collapsed. She claimed mob terror, looting, armed robbery, and extortion now prevail from the capital Dhaka to remote villages, turning the nation into "a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of...