Awami League President Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister on August 5 in the face of intense student-led protests and subsequently fled to neighbouring India. While she has been there for an extended period, recent rumours suggest that Sheikh Hasina has left India for a Middle Eastern country.
Despite the speculation surrounding her whereabouts, neither the Indian government nor the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have provided any official confirmation. According to Touhid Hossain, a foreign affairs adviser to the interim government, the government is still uncertain about Sheikh Hasina’s current location.
"Various reports on social media claim that the former Prime Minister has moved from India to the UAE," Hossain said. When asked whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had any knowledge of her movements, he responded, "We have not been able to confirm her location. We've checked in Delhi and the Emirates, but no official source has been able to verify her whereabouts. However, there are rumors that she might be in Ajman, though our attempts to re-confirm this have not been successful."
Addressing claims that India sent Sheikh Hasina to the UAE under pressure from the United States, Hossain remarked, "I cannot comment on that. You would have to ask the US government."
However, a BBC Bengali report from Tuesday indicates that Sheikh Hasina is still in India. Senior Indian officials have dismissed rumors of her departure as "completely baseless," asserting that she has not left Delhi for any Middle Eastern country.
According to Shubhajyoti Ghosh, a BBC Bengali correspondent in Delhi, multiple sources from India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs confirmed that Sheikh Hasina has remained in India this week, as she had the previous week.
While Indian authorities have not officially disclosed her exact location in Delhi, there has been no change in her 'location' over the past few days. A senior source in Delhi’s South Block told the BBC, "Whatever the circumstances, Sheikh Hasina is currently an honored guest of India. If she later chooses to move to another country, there is no reason for us to conceal that."
In response to the rumours of her secret relocation to the UAE, officials advise the public to disregard such "news."