‘They will kill you’: How Sheikh Hasina’s family convinced her to leave Bangladesh

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said in an interview on Wednesday that his mother didn’t want to leave the country. He said their family had to convince her to flee Dhaka. He said he told his mother that the mob would kill her.

“I was worried not because she was leaving Bangladesh, but because she didn’t want to leave Bangladesh. We had to convince her. I said this is not a political movement anymore, this is a mob … they are going to kill you,” Joy told Deutsche Well.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy dismissed reports that she had sought asylum in the United States or the United Kingdom. He said Sheikh Hasina would stay in Delhi for a while.

Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka in a military aircraft on Monday and reached Ghaziabad’s Hindon airport. She was whisked away to a safe location.

Hours after she left her country, a mob of students protesting against quotas in government jobs, ransacked her house.

He said the decision to resign had been taken a day before. However, she was forced to resign because thousands of protestors began marching towards her house.

“She had made the decision a day earlier. Only a few of us knew that she would announce she was resigning and that she planned to ensure a transition of power according to the Constitution. But when they (protesters) began marching towards Ganabhaban, we said out of fear, there was no more time. You have to leave now,” he said.

He said his mother has not decided to move from India to another place. He said she was very upset.

“Sheikh Hasina is well and now in Delhi. My sister is with her. My sister lives in Delhi… She is well, but very upset,” he added.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday told an all-party meeting that Sheikh Hasina was in a state of shock and the government had given her time before discussing her plans.