DHAKA: Sheikh Hasina, who resigned as Bangladesh’s PM and fled the country on Monday following weeks of protests, has been one of the dominant figures in its politics since the assassination of her father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, nearly a half-century ago.
Her flight came less than seven months after she celebrated a fourth straight term in power – and fifth overall – by sweeping national elections in January.
Her last 15 years in power were marked by arrests of opposition leaders, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent, and she resigned in the face of deadly student-led protests that have killed hundreds.
Protests began in June after student groups’ demands for the scrapping of a quota system in government jobs escalated into a movement seeking the end of her rule.
Her political career was rooted in bloodshed. Her father, who led Bangladesh’s fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971, was assassinated with most her family in a military coup in 1975. She was fortunate to have been visiting Europe at the time.
She returned to Bangladesh from India, where she lived in exile, in 1981 and was elected head of the Awami League.
Hasina first led the Awami League party to victory in 1996, serving one five-year term before regaining power in 2009, never to lose it again.
As time went on, she became increasingly autocratic and her rule has been marked by mass arrests of political rivals.