A defiant Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said she was not scared of being arrested on her return from India in Dec, drawing a sharp reaction from Dhaka that called her an “absconding convicted genocider”.“I’m not worried about my own future. I’m worried about the future of Bangladesh. My return isn’t about power. It’s about putting Bangladesh back on the right track,” she said, virtually addressing a press meet at Delhi’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club to mark the 2024 ‘July Uprising’ that led to her ouster from Bangladesh.Amid Dhaka’s outrage, Awami League said the house of cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, who attended the meet, was “attacked” back home.A defiant Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said she was not scared of being arrested on her return from India in Dec, drawing a sharp reaction from Dhaka that called her an “absconding convicted genocider”.

“I’m not worried about my own future. I’m worried about the future of Bangladesh. My return isn’t about power. It’s about putting Bangladesh back on right track,” she said, virtually addressing a press meet at Delhi’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club to mark the 2024 ‘July Uprising’ that led to her ouster from Bangladesh.

Amid Dhaka’s outrage, Awami League said the house of cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, who attended the meet, was “attacked” back home.

Hasina: People of Bangladesh have suffered a lot... that’s why I decided to go back

Fear cannot decide my duty to my people, and I will return to them in Dec. Whatever fate awaits me, I will return to my people,” Hasina said. “I may be detained. I may be sent to prison. I am returning,” she said, combatively responding to statements of BNP functionaries that the Awami League chief would be arrested as soon as she lands in Dhaka.In a statement, the Bangladesh foreign ministry said it’s “outraged that absconding convicted genocider” Hasina was allowed to engage in a live interaction with media in New Delhi, where “she and her henchmen launched venomous vitriol against Bangladesh and her people”. “Dhaka deeply regrets that despite concerns conveyed a priori to the government of India about likely ramifications of this event on reset of our bilateral relations, this public event was permitted to be held,” it said.The exiled former PM struck a tough note in her first group interaction with media since she was forced to flee. She termed the “July Uprising” as a regime change operation and cited a statement of her sworn rival and former head of the stop-gap regime that took over from her. “(Muhammad) Yunus had himself said the protests were meticulously designed by a mastermind. His own words expose the truth. It wasn’t simply a spontaneous student protest.

There was no visible or responsible leadership. Instructions were given invisibly,” she told the news conference.While other speakers, including her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, were on video, she didn’t go into video mode at the presser, which was supposed to be her first public appearance after her ouster.Urging the international community to support “people’s struggle for democracy”, Hasina said Bangladesh’s future depends on restoration of democratic institutions, and outlined several demands, including “lifting ban on Awami League, releasing political prisoners, withdrawing false cases, restoring freedom of speech and media freedom, guaranteeing judicial independence, and ensuring law enforcement agencies serve people”.Bangladesh’s situation “is not only a domestic crisis; it affects regional peace, security, development and human dignity”, Hasina said. When asked about a specific time and date, Hasina said, “I just declared that I am coming. I’m going to Bangladesh. Now, date and everything, of course, when the time comes, I will tell everybody. I believe that the people of Bangladesh have suffered a lot and that’s why I decided to go back.

The month of December is Bangladesh’s ‘Victory Month’. So, I want to go back in the month of December,” she said.