Sheikh Hasina Hints At US Role In Bangladesh Coup Over Saint Martin Island

New Delhi: A week after fleeing to India, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has hinted at the United States’ role in orchestrating a coup leading to her unceremonious ouster.

She attributed it to her refusal to “surrendered” the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island, which would have allowed the US to exert influence over the Bay of Bengal, the ET reported, quoting a message conveyed through her close associates.

She also warned Bangladeshis against radicals.

“I resigned, so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it, I resigned from premiership. I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech to the people of my land, ‘Please do not be manipulated by radicals.”

‘White Man’ Allegation

Months before her tragic fall, Hasina had claimed that “conspiracies” were being hatched to topple her government and that she may be assassinated just like her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She alleged in a press briefing in May that “a white man” offered a smooth re-election in the January 7 polls and a smoother run as PM if she allowed an unnamed foreign country to set up an airbase within Bangladesh. She also mentioned about a plot to carve a “Christian state like East Timor” taking a part of Bangladesh and Myanmar and forming a base in the Bay of Bengal.

Leaders of the Awami League and sources close to Hasina also believe that officials at the State Department of the United States were the main protagonists behind Hasina’s removal. This was confirmed with the appointment of banker and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as the new interim head of Bangladesh, a former US Fulbright scholar who had a longstanding fraught relationship with Hasina, the Sunday Guardian reported, quoting sources.

About Saint Martin Island

Saint Martin’s Island, also known as Narikel Jinjira (Coconut Island) or Daruchini Dwip (Cinnamon Island), is Bangladesh’s sole coral reef island. Spread over only 3 km square in area, it is home to 5,500 people. It is located in the northeastern part of Bay of Bengal, approximately 9 kms south of the tip of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsula and 8 kms west of the northwest coast of Myanmar.

The island is also a popular tourist destination, especially during winters. Economy around the island primarily relies on fishing, rice-coconut cultivation and tourism.

Despite the 1974 agreement recognising St Martin’s Island as a Bangladeshi territory,

There has been long-standing sovereignty dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar, mainly due to disagreements over maritime boundaries and fishing rights in the surrounding waters, despite the 1974 agreement and 2012 ITLOS judgment affirming Bangladesh’s sovereignty over the Saint Martin’s Island.