Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina held her first public media interaction since fleeing to India, declaring on Wednesday that she will return home in December. The virtual press conference, hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi, has triggered a sharp protest from Bangladesh’s foreign ministry and a petrol bomb attack on the home of cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, who joined the event virtually. It marks a fresh flashpoint in already strained India Bangladesh relations, two years after Hasina’s dramatic exit from power.
What did Sheikh Hasina say in her Delhi press conference?
Sheikh Hasina, 78, addressed reporters through an audio only virtual link. She said she plans to return to Bangladesh in December this year. She acknowledged the risk of arrest, imprisonment or worse.
“They may kill me, put me in jail. I know I may get detained, I may be sent to prison, they may try to bring politically motivated fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people,” Sheikh Hasina said at the press conference on August 5, 2026, as reported by The Statesman.
She insisted her return was not about reclaiming power. “My return is not about power, it’s about putting Bangladesh back on track of development, secularism and prosperity,” she said, according to Siasat.com’s report on August 5, 2026.
The event marked the second anniversary of her ouster. Hasina fled Dhaka by helicopter on August 5, 2024, after weeks of student led protests that the United Nations says left nearly 1,400 people dead.
Why is Bangladesh angry over the Sheikh Hasina press conference?
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted within hours, calling the event a direct affront to the country. The ministry’s statement used unusually sharp language for diplomatic communication.
“Bangladesh is outraged that the absconding convicted genocider Sheikh Hasina was allowed this evening to engage in live interaction with the media in New Delhi where she and her henchmen launched venomous vitriol against the State of Bangladesh and her people,” Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on August 5, 2026, as reported by ANI and The Tribune.
The ministry added that it had warned India in advance about the event. “Dhaka deeply regrets that in spite of concerns conveyed a priori to the Government of India about the likely ramifications of this event on the reset of our bilateral relations, this public event was permitted to be held,” the statement said.
Dhaka also renewed its demand for Hasina’s extradition under the 2013 treaty between the two countries, saying repeated requests have gone unanswered.
What happened to Shakib al Hasan’s house after the Sheikh Hasina event?
Former Bangladesh cricket captain and ex Awami League lawmaker Shakib Al Hasan joined the virtual press conference. Hours later, his ancestral home in Magura town came under attack.
According to Al Jazeera’s report published August 6, 2026, a group of people threw petrol bombs and smashed windows at Shakib’s residence in the Keshabmor area of Magura, roughly 170 kilometres from Dhaka. Police said the attack caused a fire on the upper floor. The house was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported.
Hasina’s Awami League party condemned the incident sharply. “Torching residences: the cost of attending Awami League press conference. Neo fascism engulfs Bangladesh,” the party said in a statement carried by The Week on August 6, 2026.
Shakib faces multiple ongoing investigations in Bangladesh, including allegations of murder, fraud and money laundering, tied to his political past and the 2024 crackdown.
What did Sheikh Hasina’s son say about Pakistan’s ISI?
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina’s son, spoke ahead of his mother’s address and made pointed remarks about regional security. He said Bangladesh now poses a fresh security concern for India.
“What should concern India most is that Bangladesh has become another Pakistan on India’s eastern front. You have another Pakistan today on your eastern front,” Wazed said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club event on August 5, 2026, as reported by ANI.
He alleged that foreign intelligence agencies, including Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, now operate with what he called an open hand inside Bangladesh. He also questioned the official death toll from the 2024 protests, pointing to a gap between the United Nations figure of about 1,400 and the interim government’s own count.
What is India’s official response to the Sheikh Hasina controversy?
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said it had no role in organising the press conference. Following Bangladesh’s formal protest, India summoned Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner in New Delhi.
As reported by Reuters and carried by Yahoo News, India’s foreign ministry said Hasina had spoken in her individual capacity, and that linking her remarks to India’s official position would not help bilateral ties. India also raised its own objection, telling Dhaka to avoid statements that create what it called persistent negativity between the two countries.
The exchange reflects how sensitive the Hasina issue has become for India Bangladesh diplomacy, with both sides now formally protesting to each other over the same event.
Why does Sheikh Hasina face a death sentence in Bangladesh?
A special tribunal in Dhaka, the International Crimes Tribunal, sentenced Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia in November 2025. The verdict relates to charges of crimes against humanity over her government’s crackdown on the July August 2024 student protests.
Here is a quick look at the case:
- Sheikh Hasina was Bangladesh’s prime minister for five terms before fleeing on August 5, 2024
- The interim and later elected governments banned her Awami League party
- The 2024 protests, according to the United Nations, killed close to 1,400 people
- The tribunal delivered its death sentence in November 2025
- Bangladesh has since sought her extradition from India under a 2013 treaty
- India has not responded to the extradition request so far
Hasina and her party have called the trial legally void, alleging that judges were removed and defence lawyers were barred from proceedings, a claim reported by The Tribune based on comments from her son.
Is Bangladesh’s economy better or worse since Sheikh Hasina left?
This question came up directly after the press conference. Mohammed Ali Siddiqui, Secretary General of Bangladesh Human Rights Watch, spoke to ANI on August 6, 2026, and offered his own reading of the economic situation.
“The economy is ruined in our country. I believe this country is going down because the GDP growth rate came at 2.2 per cent. It was continuously 6.5 per cent and above,” Siddiqui told ANI, adding that more than 30 lakh people, many of them women in the garments sector, had reportedly lost jobs.
A simple comparison of the growth figures he cited looks like this:
| Period | Reported GDP Growth |
| Under Hasina government (previous years) | 6.5% and above |
| Current period, per Siddiqui’s claim | 2.2% |
Note: These figures were cited by Siddiqui in his personal capacity and have not been independently verified against official Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data. Readers should treat this as one stakeholder’s assessment, not a confirmed government figure.
What happens next for Sheikh Hasina and Bangladesh?
Bangladesh is preparing for national elections, with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a Jamaat e Islami led coalition seen as the main contenders. The Awami League remains barred from the political process.
Sheikh Hasina has said she intends to travel back to Bangladesh in December regardless of the risks. Her son has separately called for the Awami League ban to be lifted before any election is considered representative. Bangladesh’s government maintains that her return, if it happens outside legal custody, is not something it will permit, and that her conviction requires immediate arrest on arrival.
For now, the diplomatic friction between New Delhi and Dhaka over the Sheikh Hasina press conference remains unresolved, with both governments trading formal protests even as they say they want to preserve a working relationship.