'Laughable, absolutely false': US denies involvement in Sheikh Hasina's removal from Bangladesh

Aug. 14, 2024, 4:30 a.m.

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“Absolutely false” claims, said the United States as it strongly rejected the allegations that it was in the resignation of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who stepped down on August 5.

Hasina had resigned from the post of Bangladesh Prime Minister and fled to India after scores of protesters congregated in Dhaka demanding the ouster of her government. Allegations of US involvement in Hasina’s ouster ’laughable’

Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, in a press briefing said, “That’s laughable. Any implication that the United States was involved in Sheikh Hasina’s resignation is absolutely false." Advertisement Patel further said that a lot of disinformation has been spread over the recent weeks regarding the current events in Bangladesh.

“We have witnessed a significant amount of misinformation in recent weeks, and we are deeply committed to enhancing information integrity throughout the regional ecosystem, particularly with our partners in South Asia,” Patel said.

#WATCH | Bangladesh issue | Principal Deputy Spokesperson, US Department of State, Vedant Patel says, "...Any implication that the United States was involved in Sheikh Hasina's resignation is absolutely false. We have seen a lot of disinformation in recent weeks and we were made… pic.twitter.com/vA0xk8Vlo9

— ANI (@ANI) August 13, 2024 Earlier this week, Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy had claimed “foreign forces” to be behind the protests in Bangladesh.

“I believe, at this point, it is from beyond Bangladesh. Only an intelligence agency would have the capability of smuggling and supplying weapons to protesters,” Joy had said.

However, his accusation was also rejected by Michael Kugelman, a US-based Foreign Policy expert, and Director of the South Asia Institute at The Wilson Center, who stated there was not ‘plausible evidence’ to support such claims.

Advertisement ANI quoted Kugelman as saying that the severe crackdown on protestors by the Hasina-led government had intensified the movement in Bangladesh. “My view has been very simple. I see this as a crisis that was driven by purely internal factors, by students who were unhappy about a particular issue, job quotas that they didn't like and they were worried about the government. Sheikh Hasina's government cracked down very hard on the students and that then turned the movement into something much bigger. And this was simply driven by internal factors,” Kugelman said.

Kugelman also dismissed allegations from Joy and said: “Now, you know, when there is a conspiracy theory that is rooted in issues of foreign influence, one cannot disprove such a type of allegation. Also, at the same time, one cannot conclusively prove it. I think the onus is the responsibility to provide a plausible explanation for how it can be true. I am yet to hear that from Sheikh Hasina’s son, from anyone." Advertisement With inputs from agencies.