Sheikh Hasina attacks Yunus in first public address in exile, calls for overthrow of 'puppet regime' in Bangladesh

Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on Friday slammed the Chief Advisor of the country's interim government, Muhammad Yunus, calling him a 'usurer, a money launderer, a plunderer, and a corrupt, power-hungry traitor, who has bled our nation dry with his all-consuming paradigms, straining the soul of our motherland'.

In her first address in exile, Hasina said that the entire nation must rise united and 'galvanised by the spirit of our great Liberation War in this grave hour'. Not only this, but she also emphasised overthrowing the 'foreign-serving puppet regime of this national enemy at any cost, the brave sons and daughters of Bangladesh must defend and restore the Constitution written in the blood of martyrs'.

Calling her party Awami League an 'independent, most important political party and the defender of proud traditions of political and religious pluralism', Hasina said that Bangladesh stands today 'at the edge of an abyss, a nation battered and bleeding, navigating one of the most perilous chapters in its history'.

''The homeland won through the supreme Liberation War under the leadership of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is now ravaged by the monstrous onslaught of extremist communal forces and foreign perpetrators. Our once serene and fertile land has been reduced to a wounded, blood-soaked landscape. In truth, the entire country has become a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of death,'' Hasina said.

''Everywhere one hears only the cries of people struggling to survive amid destruction. A desperate plea of life. Heart-rending screams for relief,'' she added.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is set to undergo parliamentary elections on February 12. However, the Election Commission of Bangladesh had suspended the registration of the Awami League as a party in May last year.

(With ANI inputs)