ASIATODAY.ID, DHAKA – The 2024 riots in Bangladesh, which led to the ousting of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, were backed by USAID and Hillary Clinton’s family, a former cabinet minister and chief negotiator, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, has told RT in an exclusive interview.
“Certain actions of some NGOs, especially from the United States – naming a few, I mean USAID, for example, or the International Republican Institute. They were running campaigns against our government for a while, since 2018,” Chowdhury said.
He served as Hasina’s shipping minister and was at the heart of negotiations during the crisis.
The accusations come more than a year after Hasina’s dramatic fall from power. In August 2024, weeks of student-led protests against job quotas spiraled into nationwide violence, claiming over 700 lives according to the interim government’s tally.
Hasina, who had led Bangladesh for 15 years at the head of her Awami League party, fled the country as crowds stormed her residence. Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus then became the chief adviser of the interim government.
According to Chowdhury, the unrest was no spontaneous youth revolt but a “carefully planned” operation bankrolled by Western interests.
“There is a nexus between the Clinton family, and the interim Yunus regime from a very long past,” he alleged.
“These activities were going on for a long time. They weren’t very open, but funding of clandestine NGOs was going on. They were hell-bent on changing the government in Bangladesh.”
He zeroed in on the flow of US aid, questioning where millions in USAID dollars had vanished.
“IRI was active, USAID’s fundings were going to nowhere. Where had that money gone to? It was destined for regime change activities.”
“A chaos was carefully planned with this money. And then the chaos was turned into a big riot.”
Since Yunus took over as interim leader, Dhaka has begun shifting focus away from New Delhi and toward Islamabad in an effort to rebuild relations that have been strained since 1971, when then East Pakistan gained independence as Bangladesh.
Millions of Bengalis were killed in the 1971 war, and Bangladesh has sought a formal apology from Pakistan for alleged war-crimes committed by its military during the conflict. In the aftermath, then Pakistani Defense Minister Aziz Ahmed stated that his country “condemned and deeply regretted” any transgressions that may have been committed. (RT)
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