In a bombshell exclusive interview with CNN-News18, Bangladesh’s exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has laid bare what she calls an “orchestrated coup” that not only toppled her 15-year rule but also unleashed a torrent of Islamist extremism under the watch of interim leader Muhammad Yunus.
Speaking from her sanctuary in India, the 78-year-old scion of Bangladesh’s founding father didn’t mince words: Yunus, she charges, is a “cardboard-cutout leader” propped up by Hizb ut-Tahrir radicals and other extremists, whose agenda threatens to drag her nation into a Pakistan-style quagmire of sectarian violence and foreign meddling.
“My fear is that Yunus is the front man for a regime actually run by Hizb ut-Tahrir extremists,” Hasina told interviewer Manoj Gupta, her voice a mix of defiance and dread.
This wide-ranging conversation, Hasina’s most detailed since fleeing Dhaka on August 5, 2024, amid deadly student protests, comes at a precarious juncture. Just days before a Dhaka tribunal’s verdict in her in-absentia trial for crimes against humanity, her words ripple across a Bangladesh teetering on the edge.
Protests have flared anew in the capital, minorities face escalating attacks, and reports of resurgent terror networksโmany with Pakistani fingerprintsโpaint a grim picture. Hasina’s narrative reframes her ouster not as a democratic uprising but as a premeditated power grab by radicals, exploiting the chaos to dismantle secular institutions and cosy up to Islamabad’s shadowy allies. With elections slated for February 2026, her interview serves as a clarion call: without inclusive polls, Bangladesh risks becoming a “vassal state” to Pakistan’s ISI and its jihadist proxies.
Hasina’s focus on extremism isn’t abstract; it’s rooted in the blood-soaked summer of 2024, when quota protests morphed into what she describes as “lawlessness led by a violent mob of radical agitators.”
In the interview, she recounts how intelligence indicatorsโfrom arson on public buildings to targeted assaults on policeโsignalled a deeper conspiracy. “The full scale only became clear later,” she says, pointing to Yunus’s post-coup moves: granting blanket immunity to violence perpetrators and dissolving her government’s inquiry into the unrest.
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These acts, she argues, shielded extremists who hijacked the movement, turning student grievances into a battering ram against her Awami League. Analysts echo this, noting how groups like Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islamโlong accused of anti-India and pro-Pakistan leaningsโsurged in influence post-Hasina, organising rallies that glorified 1971 war collaborators.
The Radical Takeover: Yunus’s Cabinet and Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Shadow
At the interview’s core is Hasina’s scorching indictment of Yunus’s regime as a haven for extremists. Far from the Nobel laureate’s image as a microfinance pioneer, she portrays him as an “unelected figure” manipulated by hardliners who’ve infiltrated his administration. “He has placed radical extremists in his cabinet, dismantled Bangladeshโs constitution, and stood silent while minorities have been oppressed,” Hasina asserts, decrying the ban on her Awami Leagueโa party backed by millions in nine straight electionsโas proof of a “sectarian, score-settling agenda.”
Her prime exhibit: Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT), the transnational Islamist group advocating a global caliphate, which she brands as the puppet masters behind Yunus. Banned in Bangladesh since 2009 under her rule, HuT has roared back since her fall. In March 2025, the group defied authorities with its first open rally in Dhaka, drawing thousands to Baitul Mukarram Mosque under the banner “March for Khilafah.”
Security experts link this resurgence to a post-coup “power vacuum,” where Yunus’s reformsโincluding controversial bail releases for terrorism suspectsโhave normalised extremist narratives. Hasina ties it directly to Yunus: “Islamist factions linked to terrorist groups are fuelling radicalism,” she says, echoing reports that his government has overlooked HuT’s online propaganda and youth recruitment drives.
This isn’t mere rhetoric. Since August 2024, Bangladesh has seen a spike in “moral policing” incidentsโvigilante attacks on secular voices and minoritiesโalongside the normalisation of hardline ideologies in state media. The EU’s Asylum Agency noted in an August 2025 report a “fragile” security landscape, with Islamist militancy rising amid political flux. Hasina warns that Yunus’s “Western admirers”โdazzled by his Grameen Bank fameโare blind to this: “They mistook his economic theories for democratic credentials. Now, this illusion is fading.” Her U.S. ties, including praise from President Trump, underscore her plea: the West must see Yunus for the “friendly face” he projects, masking a regressive domestic push.
Hasina’s fears are amplified by on-the-ground realities. In July 2025, Bangladesh’s Anti-Terrorism Unit arrested operatives tied to HuT and other outfits, uncovering plots for cross-border attacks. Yet, critics argue Yunus’s administration has been tepid, prioritising “reforms” over crackdowns. “Yunus is not in control,” Hasina insists, portraying him as a symbolic head for an “anti-Awami coalition” driven by radicals seeking to erase her secular legacy. This aligns with diaspora voices, like those at last week’s Hague rally, who filed ICJ complaints accusing Yunus of human rights abuses tied to extremist patronage.
Pakistan’s Long Arm: From ISI Vassals to Hafiz Saeed’s Second Front
Hasina’s interview escalates into geopolitics, zeroing in on Pakistan-linked groups as the coup’s shadowy architects. She accuses Yunus of “sponsorship of extremists” and “anti-India rhetoric,” actions that “endanger ties with Delhi” and betray Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation ethos. “These are moves of an inexperienced leader who does not recognise the value of our partnership,” she tells Gupta, implicitly nodding to Islamabad’s playbook.
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Recent intelligence points to a rekindled “terrorism corridor” linking Pakistan’s ISI with Bangladeshi Islamists. Since Yunus’ ascent, reports detail covert operations by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)โHafiz Saeed’s terror outfitโexploiting Dhaka’s instability. A September 2025 analysis by the Centre for Air Power Studies highlights how renewed Pakistan-Bangladesh ties have facilitated extremist ideologies and cross-border plots, including arms smuggling via porous borders.
Ex-Hasina aide Shama Obaid claimed in November that Yunus and Pakistan aim to turn Bangladesh into an “ISI vassal state,” citing military cooperation pacts and the release of 1971 “Rajakar” collaboratorsโpro-Pakistan militias accused of genocide.
Hasina connects the dots: the 2024 violence wasn’t spontaneous but “premeditated,” with Pakistani-backed networks like HuT and Jamaat amplifying mob fury. Post-coup, anti-India incidents have surgedโtemple arsons, Hindu exodus โ fueling what she calls a “silent war on minorities.” Yunus’ “Pakistan-friendly moves,” she warns, erode sovereignty, drawing Bangladesh into a U.S.-China tug-of-war while empowering jihadists.
“The only way to future-proof our country is by enabling a government elected by the consent of the people,” she urges, eyeing free polls as the antidote.
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India looms large in her vision. Grateful for asylum and diplomatic backingโfrom calls for inclusive elections to highlighting minority woesโHasina asks Delhi to “persist” against Yunus’s hostility. As Bangladesh’s “steadfast friend,” India can lobby multilaterals and nurture Awami networks, she suggests, without “covert support.” Her message to regional partners: prevent a “hybrid Islamist-military regime” by demanding Yunus step aside for democracy.
A Nation’s Reckoning: From Oppression to Renewal
Hasina’s interview isn’t just a critique; it’s a blueprint for salvation. She envisions returning only under “participatory democracy,” restoring the economic powerhouse she builtโinfrastructure booms, poverty halvedโagainst Yunus’s “volatile” policies. The Awami League, she insists, isn’t hers but “ingrained in Bangladesh’s fabric,” commanding “tens of millions” ready to vote out the extremists.
Yet, the clock ticks. With Dhaka’s streets emptying ahead of her trial verdict and HuT’s caliphate dreams gaining traction, Hasina’s words hang heavy. “I have dedicated my life to improving Bangladesh,” she concludes, unbowed. In exposing the extremist-Pakistan nexus, she challenges the world: ignore this at your peril. For a nation born in secular fire, the flames of radicalism burn brighter than everโbut so does the spark of resistance.
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