With Sheikh Hasina’s death sentence, Bangladesh comes full circle
This is highly symbolic. The institution that once validated Bangladesh’s founding and its traumatic break from Pakistan in 1971 is now being used to eliminate its long-time leader. The court, once an instrument of anti-Pakistan justice, now serves what many see as an internal purge.
Decline of Mujib legacy
Hasina is not only a political figure but also the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is widely revered as the “Father of the Nation” for leading Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan. His reign was often framed in continuity with his father’s narrative of heroic redemption. But since his ouster in August 2024, the regime that replaced him has systematically dismantled this legacy by openly embracing Pakistan and rejecting the country’s struggle for freedom.
Shortly after Hasina’s removal last year, protesters toppled a golden statue of her father in central Dhaka. This act of vandalism led to a powerful political statement. It was the erasure of Mujib’s legacy. The reported attempt to demolish the remaining parts of his house after the verdict underlines how violently symbolic this showdown has become. Moreover, earlier in the year, Mujib’s former home, the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32, was demolished by bulldozers.
These events are not accidental lawlessness, but a deliberate unraveling of national history. Institutions, statues and monuments linked to Mujib are being erased or redefined, indicating a powerful rewriting of the national narrative. With Hasina’s death sentence, the erasure of Mujib’s legacy was complete.
Bangla-Pak ties: From liberation to reconciliation
Hasina’s death sentence, which completes a series of other events since her ouster to avoid inheritance, signals a radical shift in Bangladesh’s national identity. The 1971 War of Liberation remains the core chapter of Bangladesh, a brutal separation from West Pakistan after suffering atrocities, mass killings and oppression by the Pakistani army. Mujib’s legacy, commemorated on national sites, is about resistance, sovereignty and national identity against Pakistan. However, during the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh moved in a very different direction. There is now a revival in trade and even military and intelligence ties with Pakistan; This signals a normalization that the founding generation will likely reject. This of course points to a symbolic full circle; Not to reintegrate into Pakistan, but to form a close alliance.
By punishing Hasina, the Yunus regime not only displaces its political rival, who has turned a page in its history. The war crimes tribunal, once a bastion of freedom’s legitimacy, has become a tool for rewriting that story. Close political or military ties with Pakistan were historically unthinkable not only for geopolitical reasons but also because of the emotional and symbolic weight of the liberation struggle. But the new leadership chose to decisively re-engage with Pakistan, reopening areas of cooperation that had been frozen for generations. The regime also takes a harsh stance against India and allows the persecution of its Hindu minority.
The country is not returning to its former status as East Pakistan, but its leaders are symbolically casting aside the ideological boundaries that once defined its independence.
However, this transformation also brings risks. Even though the Yunus regime banned Hasina’s party, party workers started protests. It may not be easy for the regime to reorient the entire country without facing backlash from a large segment of the population that still leans towards Hasina’s party.
