Iron Lady’s reign ends in hasty retreat

Hasina in her office in Dhaka on June 11 last year. Hasina, who once brought democratic hope to Bangladesh, turned increasingly autocratic and met her downfall in a crackdown on protesters. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

BANGLADESH’s Sheikh Hasina Wazed’s life and politics have been defined by an early trauma both personal and national.

In 1975, her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader, and most of their family were massacred in a military coup. Hasina, abroad at the time, was forced into exile in India.