Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that the USA is behind her ouster from power. On 11th August, the Economic Times published Sheikh Hasina’s statement making the allegation conveyed through her associates to the newspaper. Hasina, who is currently taking refuge in India after she was forced to leave Bangladesh following violent protests, said that the USA orchestrated her removal from the post of PM because she refused to hand over Saint Martin Island to the US which would have enabled the western superpower to have “sway over the Bay of Bengal”.
She also urged the people of Bangladesh not to get manipulated by the radicals in the country. Notably, OpIndia had reported on the day of her resignation how the US could have played in political turmoil in Bangladesh leading to the removal of Hasina from the post of Prime Minister.
In her statement, she said, “I resigned so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They 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 to the people of my land, ‘Please do not be manipulated by radicals.”
According to the former PM, the USA wants the island because they want to build a military base on it.
Hasina said if she had stayed in the country, more people would have died and more resources would have been destroyed. “If I had remained in the country, more lives would have been lost, more resources would have been destroyed. I made the extremely difficult decision to exit. I became your leader because you chose me, you were my strength,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina expressed her anguish over the reports of leaders of the Awami Party being killed, workers being harassed and their homes being vandalised and burnt. She said, “My heart cries upon receiving news that many leaders have been killed, workers are being harassed and their homes are subjected to vandalism and arson…With the grace of almighty Allah, I will return soon. Awami League has stood up again and again. I shall forever pray for the future of Bangladesh, the nation that my great-father strived for. The country for which my father and family gave their lives.”
Referring to the protests over quota in the country, she clarified that she never called the students “Razakars”. She emphasised that her words were distorted and used to incite the protesters. She said, “I would like to repeat this to the young students of Bangladesh. I have never called you Razakars. Rather My words were distorted to incite you. I request you to watch the full video of that day. Conspirators have taken advantage of innocence and used you to destabilise the nation.”
This is not the first time Hasina has accused the US of pursuing a strategy of regime change in Bangladesh. In April, before the quota movement started in the country, she had informed the parliament about the alleged plan of the US to remove her from power. She said, “They are trying to eliminate democracy and introduce a government that will not have a democratic existence.”
ET report suggested that Awami League leaders who are close to Sheikh Hasina, have blamed the USA for the regime change in Bangladesh. They accused a senior USA diplomat who visited Dhaka in May of being responsible for what happened in the country. They further alleged that the diplomat attempted to put pressure on Hasina to pursue initiatives against China.
Notably, American Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas favoured the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as alleged by one of the Awami League leaders. Haas finished his term in July. Not only Bangladeshi leaders including Hasina have accused the USA of being behind the regime change, but Russia has also warned about the possibilities.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in December 2023 at a press conference that in case Hasina comes back to power in the 2024 elections, the USA would use all its power to overthrow her government. Zakharova had warned that America would create a situation like the “Arab Spring” to bring a chaotic regime change. Not to forget, the Arab Spring was initially led by University, College and School students.
Saint Martin Island and alleged USA plot for a military base
Saint Martin Island is a small island located near the Southern tip of Bangladesh, around 9 km south of the tip of Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsula. The island forms the southernmost part of Bangladesh. It is about 8 kilometres west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River. The island can be reached by ships and boats. Although Bangladesh administers the island, Myanmar also lays claim to it. Burmese forces occasionally target fishermen from the island on the sea.
This is not the first time that Sheikh Hasina has accused of USA of trying to take over the island. Last year in May, she had claimed that before the elections, a ‘white man’ had assured her a hassle-free re-election if she allowed a foreign country to set up an air force base on the island.
She said, “The offer came from a white man. It may appear that it is aimed at only one country, but it is not. I know where else they intend to go. There will be more trouble. But don’t worry about it. If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem.”
Later in June 2023, she said that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party wanted to sell St Martin’s Island to grab power. “The BNP came to power in 2001 by giving an undertaking to sell gas. Now they want to sell the country. They want to come to power by selling St Martin’s Island,” she had said.
“Now if I say that I will lease out St Martin’s Island or our country, there will also be no problem for me to stay in power. I know that,” the then PM had said. Sheikh Hasina had also said that there was a plot to carve out “a Christian state like East Timor,” taking parts from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
At that time, Dhaka-8 MP Rashed Khan Menon had claimed that the US is after St Martin’s Island as it wants to build an air base on the island. “The US wants St Martin’s Island, and they want Bangladesh in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). They are doing everything to destabilize the current government,” he had said.
Notably, reports mention that Washington has been eyeing St. Martin Island for many years for its second air force base in the region. However, in June last year, the US officially denied having discussions on taking over St Martin’s Island.
“I will just say that it is not accurate. We respect Bangladesh’s sovereignty, and we have never engaged in any conversations about taking over St. Martin’s Island,” said Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US Department of State last year.
OpIndia talked about possibility of US’s hand in removing Sheikh Hasina from power
It is pertinent to note that the coup in Bangladesh is being widely speculated to be a regime change operation by the US deep state. The protests in Bangladesh, violence and departure of Sheikh Hasina from the country have raised questions if there was a US deep state behind the coup. It has to be noted that despite the quota, against which the protests were happening, which was abolished by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the protests never faded away. They only intensified leading Hasina to order the use of force against the protesters and several hundred protesters were killed in the process. After the departure of Hasina and the Army took over the country, the violence intensified and Hindus became prime targets of the violent Islamist mobs across Bangladesh.
The role of foreign forces in toppling Hasina’s government has become a topic of discussion as well as concern. One of the organisations whose name has popped up repeatedly is the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The main objective of USAID is clearly, to further US interests abroad and regime change has been one of the interests of the US. USAID has been accused of being directly involved in regime change in Nicaragua and Venezuela.
BRAC has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID that tuned into millions. For example, BRAC received USD 1.5 million from the Gates Foundation to build preparedness and emergency response capacity. Furthermore, BRAC has teamed up with USAID in projects like the Bangladesh America Maitree Project, which aims to enhance the capacity of local NGOs through funding and training.
Not to forget, there are allegations that USAID is in front of the CIA, the foreign intelligence organisation of the US government. Furthermore, just before the recent General Elections in Bangladesh, Washington sanctioned members of Sheikh Hasina’s party and promoted a government involving BNP and Jamaat. It aligned with broader discussions about US foreign policy strategies aimed at fostering governments favourable to its interests.
In June this year, Sheikh Hasina made a shocking claim that a plot is being hatched to carve out “a Christian state like East Timor,” from parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar and that she will not let it happen. She claimed that a “white man” who visited with her before the Bangladesh elections in January of this year assured her that there would be “no problems” if she permitted them to establish an airbase on Bangladeshi soil.
Last year, the US also extended support to the Islamist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Jihadist ally Jamaat-e-Islami during its protests against the PM Hasina-led government. The US and other Western countries expected the Awami League government to step down and hand over power to a caretaker regime, and release all jailed BNP and Jamaat leaders to ensure ‘free and fair’ elections. However, India and China, despite their disputes, backed Sheikh Hasina in dealing with US pressure resulting in her return to power for the fifth time.
Since there have been reports of the United States attempting to meddle in the elections in Bangladesh by imposing sanctions on Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some officials alongside placing visa restrictions on Bangladeshi officials, it is being speculated that the airbase offer was made by the US.
In November 2023, OpIndia reported that there were clear signs of foreign interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs. With just two months away from the elections, the United States government, its agencies and the embedded media were called out for orchestrating a ‘regime change operation’ in Bangladesh.
