A petrol bomb was thrown at the ancestral home of former Bangladesh cricket captain and former Awami League MP Shakib Al Hasan on Wednesday night, hours after he appeared virtually at a press conference alongside former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in India.
The attack took place around 8.45 pm local time at Shakib Al Hasan’s ancestral residence in the Keshabmor area of Magura town. The house was also vandalised.
The incident came shortly after Sheikh Hasina addressed a virtual press conference organised at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in New Delhi.
Speaking virtually, Sheikh Hasina declared that she was determined to return to Bangladesh in December, saying she was prepared to face arrest or even death in what she described as an effort to restore democracy.
“My return is not about power, it’s about putting Bangladesh back on track of development, secularism and prosperity,” she said.
The 78-year-old former prime minister acknowledged the risks awaiting her if she returned.
“I know, they may put me in jail or kill me,” she said, adding, “I will go back home to be with my people. I have decided to go and I will go to Bangladesh.”
Hasina has been living in India since August 5, 2024, when she fled Dhaka following the collapse of her government after months of anti-government protests.
Last November, a special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia over alleged “crimes against humanity” linked to her government’s crackdown on the student-led protests of 2024. Since the verdict, Bangladesh has repeatedly sought her extradition from India.
“Fear has entered homes, work places and educational campuses; this is not the Bangladesh we built. I call upon the international community to stand with the people of Bangladesh in their struggle for democracy and justice,” Sheikh Hasina said.