Dhaka: Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin has said that he does not have any documentary evidence of Sheikh Hasina resigning as prime minister before she fled the country in August amidst student-led mass protests.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, became Bangladesh’s interim government’s Chief Adviser on August 8 after Prime Minister Hasina fled to India on August 5.
President Shahabuddin said he heard that Hasina had resigned as prime minister before she fled Bangladesh, but he does not have documentary evidence, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported on Monday, quoting excerpts from his interview with Bangla daily Manab Zamin.
“Maybe she didn’t get the time,” he said, as quoted in the interview, which was published on Sunday.
“At 10:30 am on August 5, Bangabhaban (the president’s residence) received a call from the Prime Minister’s residence, indicating that the honourable Prime Minister would visit Bangabhaban to meet the president. Preparations began immediately, but within an hour, another call informed that she won’t be coming.”
President Shahabuddin further asserted that Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, who announced the former prime minister’s resignation in a televised address, had also informed him that he had only “heard she has resigned”. The president also mentioned receiving a similar response from his military secretary.
However, the president clarified that there was no controversy or legal issue about the formation of the interim government under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus. “The fact is that the prime minister has left,” President Shahabuddin said.
Following Hasina’s departure, he sought the advice of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. On August 8, the Appellate Division led by the then Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan suggested that an interim government could be established to fill the constitutional gap and carry out executive duties properly.
Earlier, Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajid Wazed Joy, had also made the claim that his mother didn’t have the opportunity to officially resign before fleeing the country on August 5.
Meanwhile, as per information from the Government of India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal last week, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh remains in India.
