Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin has said that he did not have any documentary evidence of Sheikh Hasina‘s resignation as the prime minister, adding that she probably did not have the time to do so as he went on to narrate the chaos caused on August 5.
In an interview to Dhaka Tribune, Shahabuddin said that hours before Hasina fled, the two had a meeting scheduled.
“Within an hour, another call came, saying she was not coming,” he said.
Terming it a day of “unrest,” Shahabuddin described how he and the army chief General Waker had “heard” about Hasina’s resignation but there was no documented evidence of it.
“When everything was under control, one day, the cabinet secretary came to collect a copy of the resignation letter. I told him I was also looking for it,” he said.
“There was news of unrest everywhere. I did not know what was going to happen. I could not just sit around relying on rumours. So I asked my military secretary, General Adil (Major General Mohammad Adil Choudhury), to look into it. He also had no information. We were waiting and checking the TV scrolls. There was no news anywhere. At one point, I heard that she had left the country without informing me. I am telling you the truth as it is,” he added.
“Anyway, when the army chief, General Waker, came to Bangabhaban, I tried to find out whether the prime minister had resigned. The answer was the same: he heard she had resigned but probably did not get the time to inform us.,” he added.
He said that he then sought the Supreme Court’s decision who asked for the formation of an interim government to avoid constitutional vacuum.
Meanwhile, Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed had clarified earlier that Hasina never “officially resigned” as she did not have the time do so.
“My mother never officially resigned. She didn’t get the time,” Wazed said from Washington. “She had planned to make a statement and submit her resignation. But then the protesters started marching on the prime minister’s residence. And there was no time. My mother wasn’t even packed. As far as the constitution goes, she is still the prime minister of Bangladesh,” he had said.
Hasina fled to New Delhi after the country witnessed widespread violent protests over preferential quota in government jobs.