In the next few paragraphs, I will lay out a minute-by-minute, year-by-year, date-by-date account for you that may shock you. Names like Peter Haas, Donald Lu, and Yunus Khan will appear in this story. Additionally, St. Martin Island in Bangladesh plays a crucial role. You will understand everything, step by step, so stay with me for a while.
The first thing you should understand is that Sheikh Hasina maintained a delicate balance between India and China, ensuring that both countries were satisfied and that her government continued to run smoothly. She secured investment from China but also maintained good relations with India and the USA. However, the USA did not like this at all, and in 2016, something happened that completely irritated the USA. Bangladesh officially joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The USA wanted to use Bangladesh against China. When the Quad was formed, the USA also wanted Bangladesh to be a part of it, but Bangladesh refrained, and perhaps this is when the USA’s focus shifted against Sheikh Hasina’s government.
Then came the year 2021 when the USA imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite force in Bangladesh. Interestingly, the Rapid Action Battalion was originally started by Khaleda Zia, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is the main opposition party to Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League. Apart from these two, there is a third party, Jamaat-e-Islami, which the Supreme Court has banned from contesting elections. Afterwards, Sheikh Hasina’s government completely banned Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical party that had openly opposed the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
Understanding these parties and their leaders is essential because they will be discussed further in this story.
Let’s move to June 21, 2023, when Sheikh Hasina openly stated that the USA wanted to acquire an island from Bangladesh to build a naval base. She made it clear that she would never be ready to sell this island, though she claimed that the opposition BNP was willing to sell it if they ever came to power. The USA denied these claims, but the events that unfolded in Bangladesh suggest otherwise.
The island in question is St. Martin’s Island, a strategically important location that used to be part of British India in 1900. After the partition in 1947, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, retained control over the island, but Myanmar has also been continuously claiming it. There was an agreement between East Pakistan and Myanmar that clearly established Bangladesh’s sovereignty over the island. However, tensions continued, and after the military coup in Myanmar in 2021, the situation escalated, with Myanmar bombing the island and cutting off Bangladesh’s access to it.
Many believe that the USA was behind these tensions, fueling them to weaken Bangladesh’s control over the island. Now, let’s move to September 2023, when the USA suddenly imposed sanctions on several politicians and leaders in Bangladesh, citing concerns over fair elections. This coincided with Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the USA for a UN meeting, leading to speculation that the sanctions were timed to embarrass her on a global stage.
The USA claimed that its actions were aimed at ensuring free and fair elections in Bangladesh, but many questioned this, pointing out that the USA had no problem with the military-run elections in Pakistan or the dictatorships in various Middle Eastern countries with which it maintains good relations. This raised suspicions about the USA’s true intentions in Bangladesh, especially in relation to St. Martin’s Island.
By November 2023, news emerged in Bangladesh that the USA had given Sheikh Hasina a deadline of November 3 to relinquish power or face consequences. Although the USA denied this, but again, the events in Bangladesh suggested otherwise.
As the January 2024 elections approached, the USA sent officials to meet with the opposition BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, raising eyebrows about foreign interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs. Jamaat-e-Islami, a party that had opposed Bangladesh’s independence, had been banned from participating in elections, yet the USA was meeting with them, further fueling suspicions of a regime change operation.
In January 2024, elections were held in Bangladesh. The BNP refused to participate, and with Jamaat-e-Islami banned, the election was almost one-sided, with Sheikh Hasina winning. However, the regime change operation in Bangladesh gained momentum, with Donald Lu, a USA diplomat, visiting Bangladesh multiple times and imposing sanctions on Bangladesh’s former Army Chief.
By the end of May 2024, Sheikh Hasina openly accused a “white Christian country” of trying to topple her government and build a naval base on St. Martin’s Island. It was clear that she was referring to the USA, though she did not name it directly.
Around the same time, the High Court of Bangladesh issued an order granting 30% reservation in jobs to families involved in the 1971 Liberation War. Students protested against this decision, and Sheikh Hasina approached the Supreme Court to have it overturned. The protests soon turned violent, and on June 17, the government shut down internet services across the country.
On June 18, when Internet services were shut down in Bangladesh, many influential people around the world got Emails from Bangladesh (which required Internet services), and all those messages were asking for support for the so-called Student Protests in Bangladesh. This was evidence that someone was orchestrating these protests behind the scenes. The protests continued until July 21, when the Supreme Court overturned the High Court’s ruling, accepting the students’ demands. However, just four days later, on July 25, Peter Haas, the USA ambassador to Bangladesh, suddenly left the country, and two days later, on July 27, protests erupted again.
This time, the protesters came up with a nine-point agenda, including the release of those jailed during the protests and accountability for those who lost their lives. The demands quickly escalated to the removal of Sheikh Hasina from power, revealing the true agenda behind the protests—regime change in Bangladesh.
On August 4, 2024, protesters took to the streets demanding Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, leading to violent clashes that resulted in over 100 deaths. The next day, on August 5, the protesters announced plans to march towards Sheikh Hasina’s residence, the same house where Mujibur Rahman, the Father of Bangladesh, was assassinated in 1975. Fearing for her safety, Sheikh Hasina fled the country and landed at Hindon Air Base in India, marking the success of the regime change operation in Bangladesh. Nationwide attacks on the Hindu minority people of Bangladesh started since then. It has not stopped till date. Thousands of people from the minority Hindu community of Bangladesh are urging India for refuge and shelter.
Why did I mention Peter Haas? Because the opposition leaders in Bangladesh, particularly those from the BNP, referred to him as an Incarnation, a god who had come to save them. This kind of relationship between an ambassador and a political party is unprecedented and suggests deeper, more concerning ties.
After fleeing to India, there was speculation that Sheikh Hasina would seek asylum in the UK, where her sister holds citizenship. However, the UK, following the USA’s lead, banned her visa, effectively preventing her from entering the country. It is worth noting that the killers of Mujibur Rahman, whom Bangladesh could not apprehend, have taken refuge in the USA and Canada, yet Sheikh Hasina, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, was banned from entering the USA.
Meanwhile, the name of Yunus Khan, a Nobel laureate, began to emerge in the news. In an article in The Print on August 6, 2024, Mr. Narayan Murthy of Infosys suggested that Yunus Khan’s ideas could greatly benefit the world. Soon after, reports surfaced that the students leading the protests in Bangladesh were requesting Yunus Khan to advise the interim government. Yunus initially accepted the request, but he later reconfirmed that he was not only ready to advise the interim government, he is ready to even lead the new govt in Bangladesh.
In summary, Bangladesh, a nation once praised for its economic growth and rising per capita income, was brought to its knees within minutes. Sheikh Hasina’s government was overthrown, and the country was plunged into chaos. Students who were protesting for their rights were likely unaware of the devastating economic consequences their actions would have.
In the aftermath, Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, who had previously opposed the very existence of Bangladesh, began openly asserting their power. Statues of Mujibur Rahman were torn down, Sheikh Hasina’s residence was looted, and reports emerged of horrific violence, including people being burned alive. Yet, some intellectuals in India continued to support the narrative that this was merely a student protest.
The same voices that had once praised Bangladesh for its high ranking on the happiness index were now condemning Sheikh Hasina as a dictator. This sudden shift in narrative, just three years later, highlights the biases and inconsistencies in such reports.
