Joy acknowledges mishandling of student protests, alleges foreign intelligence involvement

Admitting that mistakes were made in handling the student protests, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, told The Indian Express in an interview that the government should have engaged with the protesters from the very beginning and spoken out against the quotas much earlier.

"I believe our government should have spoken out against the quotas and met with the protesters from the beginning instead of leaving it to the courts… Our government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to reduce the quotas. I recommended we take a public stance, stating the court made a mistake and we don't want the quotas. But our government chose not to, expecting the judicial system to handle it," said Joy, who served as IT adviser to Hasina and now lives in the US.

However, even as he acknowledged the mistake in hindsight, Joy added that he believes a foreign intelligence agency was behind the violent turn the protests took. "I firmly believe that a foreign intelligence agency was involved, especially because many of the demonstrators, starting from 15 July, were seen armed with firearms. Firearms are very difficult to obtain in Bangladesh due to our successful control of militancy over the last 15 years. The only organisation capable of smuggling firearms into the country and supplying them to demonstrators would be a foreign intelligence agency," he said.

Describing the events of the 24 hours leading up to his mother's departure from Bangladesh on 5 August, Joy said that even a day before the situation spiraled out of control, neither he nor Hasina anticipated how rapidly it would deteriorate. "She had no intention of leaving the country. She was going to resign, submit a resignation to the president, and announce it in a public address. I believe she was drafting the statement and preparing to record an interview. Everything was planned. In fact, she was about to start recording when the special security said, "Ma'am, there's no time. We have to go now," he said in a video interview from Washington, D.C.

He said Hasina was adamant on not leaving, but he convinced her to do so. "The special security force took her to a safe location inside the military air base, they had a helicopter ready for her, but she did not wish to go… that's when my aunt [Sheikh Rehana Siddiq] called me. I convinced my mother that for her safety she had to leave. I told her, if this mob finds you and there's shooting, lots of people will die. Either you'll get blamed or, if they catch you and kill you. So your best option is to leave the country," he said.

Since the time she fled Bangladesh, Hasina has been in India. "She's waiting to see how the situation unfolds in Bangladesh," said Joy, adding that "most likely," she will be in India for the time being.

Asked if she had plans to go elsewhere, he said: "She had to leave by helicopter, so the only destination was India, but after that, you know, it's thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that they responded quickly… to save her life and move her to a very secure location, so she is safe. But other than that, questions that have been asked about her applying for asylum in various countries are all rumors. They're completely untrue. She has not applied for asylum anywhere."