LeT Terrorist Claims Pak Orchestrated 2024 Uprising That Toppled Hasina Govt
India and Bangladesh enjoyed a friendly relationship under Hasina and the Lashkar man said she was removed to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
New Delhi: A newly surfaced video of US-designated Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) terrorist Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi claims that Pakistan’s security establishment and the militant group helped engineer last August’s uprising that toppled Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina government.
Speaking at a Youm-e-Takbeer rally in Gujranwala on Thursday marking Pakistan’s 27 years as a nuclear power, Hashmi claimed that “we are the ones who defeated you in Bangladesh,” addressing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He further boasted that LeT orchestrated the protests and campus unrest that preceded Hasina’s ouster in 2024, and reiterated LeT’s role in the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir.
The video has intensified long-standing accusations by Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League (AL) that “third-party” forces and extremist networks, notably Jamaat-e-Islami, stoked last year’s violence. Tagging the clip on X, Hasina’s son and adviser Sajeeb Wazed wrote: “Leader of Pakistani terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyaba … claiming they were involved in the uprising against my mother.”
Former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani said Hashmi’s remarks undermine Islamabad’s assertions that it no longer sponsors jihadist groups. Pakistan’s government has not commented on the speech.
Hashmi, sanctioned by the US in 2018 along with other Milli Muslim League (MML) leaders for acting on LeT’s behalf, delivered Thursday’s address alongside local politicians and retired officers. His appearance follows reports that federal minister Rana Tanveer Hussain recently met Hashmi to discuss rebuilding LeT’s Muridke camp destroyed in India’s 7 May strikes.
Bangladesh and India have yet to issue official reactions to Hashmi’s claims.