Sheikh Hasina: child of the revolution who eroded Bangladesh’s democracy
Source: The Guardian
The world’s longest-serving female leader was, according to her son, “in good spirits, but disheartened and disappointed in the lack of gratitude of the people of Bangladesh”.
After weeks of protests, more than 300 deaths and increased international criticism of her government’s slide into autocracy, the long rule of Sheikh Hasina ended on Monday as she fled the country she had led for a combined total of more than 20 years.
The daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first president who led his country to independence in 1971, Hasina flew to India, where she was born in 1947 and where she was granted asylum in 1975, after a military coup caused the deaths of most of her family.
It was 49 years ago this month that her father, mother, young brothers and 15 others were shot dead in what were called the “midnight murders”. Hasina, her husband and her sister Sheikh Rehana were travelling in Germany at the time and so survived.
Ironically for a woman deposed by a student uprising, while at Dhaka University studying literature, Hasina built a reputation as a student leader and feminist. Her political bent resumed when she returned to Bangladesh from a six-year exile in India in 1981, after being elected leader of her late father’s Awami League (AL) party.
Read here the full article published by the Guardian on 06 August 2024.
Image by Guardian
The world’s longest-serving female leader was, according to her son, “in good spirits, but disheartened and disappointed in the lack of gratitude of the people of Bangladesh”.
After weeks of protests, more than 300 deaths and increased international criticism of her government’s slide into autocracy, the long rule of Sheikh Hasina ended on Monday as she fled the country she had led for a combined total of more than 20 years.
The daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first president who led his country to independence in 1971, Hasina flew to India, where she was born in 1947 and where she was granted asylum in 1975, after a military coup caused the deaths of most of her family.
It was 49 years ago this month that her father, mother, young brothers and 15 others were shot dead in what were called the “midnight murders”. Hasina, her husband and her sister Sheikh Rehana were travelling in Germany at the time and so survived.
Ironically for a woman deposed by a student uprising, while at Dhaka University studying literature, Hasina built a reputation as a student leader and feminist. Her political bent resumed when she returned to Bangladesh from a six-year exile in India in 1981, after being elected leader of her late father’s Awami League (AL) party.
Read here the full article published by the Guardian on 06 August 2024.
Image by Guardian