Sheikh Hasina's son blames Pakistan ISI for unrest, reveals when his mother will return to Bangladesh

Sheikh Hasina, who quit as PM and fled Bangladesh, will be back in the country as soon as democracy is restored, his son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said on Thursday and blamed Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, for fuelling the ongoing unrest in the country.

"I am quite certain given the circumstantial evidence; I suspect Pakistan ISI’s involvement. The attacks and protests were very coordinated, meticulously planned, and intentional efforts to keep inflaming the situation through social media. No matter what the government did to control the situation, they kept trying to worsen it,” the ousted Bangladesh PM's son told PTI.

In an exclusive interview with PTI, Joy further revealed that although 76-year-old Hasina would definitely return to Bangladesh, it has not yet been decided whether she will be back as a “retired or active” politician.

He expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for protecting his mother and appealed to India to help build international opinion and exert pressure to restore democracy in Bangladesh.

“Yes, it is true that I had said she wouldn’t return to Bangladesh. But a lot has changed in the last two days following continuous attacks on our leaders and party workers across the country. Now we are going to do whatever it takes to keep our people safe; we are not going to leave them alone. Awami League is the largest and oldest political party in Bangladesh, so we cannot just walk away from our people. She will definitely return to Bangladesh once democracy is restored," he said. 

Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following violent protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs. She flew to the Hindon air base, near Delhi, in a Bangladesh military aircraft on Monday.

The death toll in the anti-government protests in Bangladesh climbed to 440 on Wednesday, with the recovery of 29 more bodies of Hasina’s Awami League party members across the country through Tuesday, taking the overall death toll to 469 in nearly three weeks since the protests began in July. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)