Sheikh Hasina’s Delhi event hurt ties with India, Bangladesh ‘won’t be a client state’, says Dhaka

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said it was outraged by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina being allowed to speak to the media in Delhi, and remarked that such events are detrimental to relations with India.

Dhaka said that it “deeply regrets” that the programme had been allowed despite having conveyed its concerns to New Delhi about the “likely ramifications of this event on the reset” of bilateral relations.

“Upholding the spirit of the July Revolution, our people have firmly resolved that our nation will never again go back to the dark days of fascism and that Bangladesh will never be a client state,” the Bangladeshi foreign ministry said.

It added that Bangladesh wants to maintain a “constructive, mutually beneficial and forward-looking” relationship with India based on “sovereign equality, mutual respect, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and national dignity”.

During an audio-only virtual press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Wednesday, Hasina said that she was determined to return home in December to put the country on the “right track”.

The interaction was Hasina’s first public media appearance since she fled to Delhi in August 2024 amid widespread protests against her government.

Hasina said that she would return to Bangladesh to restore democracy despite the risk of imprisonment or even a death...

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