Did Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina plan to directly blame the United States for her ouster in the hours before her exit from her country? Some media reports on Sunday claimed that the beleaguered leader, in her last hours as Prime Minister, planned to accuse the United States of coveting her country’s Saint Martin Island located in the Bay of Bengal (to establish a military base) and masterminding her ouster as she refused to “surrender the sovereignty” of the island. It was reported soon after she fled to New Delhi on Monday that Ms Hasina had planned to deliver a televised address to the nation. But she could not do so reportedly because the protesters were closing in to storm her official residence and the Army was apparently keen that she leave immediately.
According to media reports on Sunday, Sheikh Hasina had apparently planned to tell her countrymen in her address: “I resigned so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They (the Opposition) wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it. I resigned from the premiership.
I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech the people of my land, please do not be manipulated by radicals.” Sheikh Hasina is currently holed up in New Delhi after she fled her country last Monday after the rising death toll in student protests against her er.