He went to bed late at night with extreme uncertainty. The sun had not yet risen when he awoke. He noticed the WhatsApp message as soon as he picked up the cell phone. A short sentence: 'No one stays here.' The sender of this one-line text message is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He had no difficulty understanding the meaning of Sheikh Hasina's message. This message of four words constituted her last command. She requested to leave the country right away. The former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina conveyed the same message to family members via family networks on August 3. This time, she sent the same instructions to the family via text message from her cell phone.
A relative of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently disclosed this information to her close persons. "Had she been unable to exit the country, she would already be incarcerated," one of them informed the Khaborer Kagoj.
He stated that this individual, currently overseas, was a significant official in the removed government and a past member of parliament. He is a relative of Sheikh Hasina's grandfather, Sheikh Lutfur Rahman. The day he received the instructions on his mobile phone, he left the country with his family members and went to Australia on August 4, 2024.
The relative informed him that Sheikh Hasina had conveyed this message solely to the family members and close associates of Bangabandhu. She had not asked any leader of the then ruling Awami League or anyone else in her government to leave the country. After ensuring that most of her relatives were safe abroad, Sheikh Hasina, along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, left the country for India on the afternoon of August 5. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been staying in New Delhi since then. Sheikh Rehana later left for London. Rehana's son and daughter are already there.
The current interim government of Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has banned the activities of the Awami League, a political party led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Many influential ministers, state ministers, and MPs of the ousted government are now in prison after being arrested in cases filed on various charges, including murder, disappearance, corruption, and money laundering. Several top Awami League leaders, including some senior politicians, have been arrested. However, almost all of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's relatives have been able to leave the country and safely move to different countries. Their destinations were the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore before the fall of the government. However, it is known that a large portion of the relatives are in neighboring India.
So far, information has been received about the arrest of one member of the Bangabandhu family. His name is Serniabat Moinuddin Abdullah. He is the son of Sheikh Hasina's cousin and former Chief Whip Abul Hasnat Abdullah. He was arrested in October last year. It is known that Moin Abdullah had close family ties with Hasan Arif, the late advisor to the current interim government. People close to Moin Abdullah in Barisal said that he (Moin) thought that he would not be arrested because he was close to the family of advisor Hasan Arif.
The member of Bangabandhu's family, who is based in Australia, said that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina realized on the afternoon of August 3 that her government was no longer viable. She expressed her fears to some senior members of her clan. "The situation is not good. Everyone has to leave the country to save their lives. Inform this order to everyone in the family," she told them.
The relatives began leaving the country from August 3, one by one, after receiving this order from Sheikh Hasina. The former MP claimed that the then mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, returned home from Singapore on August 3, two days before the fall of the government. Taposh was informed of Sheikh Hasina's verbal instructions while still at Dhaka airport. Taposh then returned to Singapore from the airport.
Sheikh Hasina held an important meeting with the National Committee on Security Affairs on August 3, two days before the fall of the Awami League government. The chiefs of Bangladesh's army, navy, and air force were also present at the meeting of this committee that day. The then prime minister spoke to them separately that day. Sheikh Hasina was briefed there by the armed forces about the latest situation in the country, which had emerged around the student-public movement. At the same time, she was indirectly requested to resign, saying that army members cannot work against the people.
Meanwhile, although Sheikh Hasina trusted the police, she believed that suppressing the student movement was no longer feasible. The administration led by her was unable to endure any longer. She subsequently sent a message on his cell phone to his family and close relatives advising them to leave the country. She then texted her family and close relatives from her mobile phone, urging them to leave the country.
The ex-Awami League MP, a close family member of Hasina residing in Australia, acknowledged that he communicated with former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after departing the country and was aware of the circumstances at that moment.
According to him, Sheikh Hasina was concerned about a recurrence of the events of August 15, 1975, and subsequent situations. That is the reason she messaged her relatives, urging them to evacuate the country swiftly to save their lives.
