Dhaka, May 19 -- Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said she will return to the country "very soon", linking her comeback to what she described as the restoration of a democratic environment and political rights, according to an email interview published by the Hindustan Times

In the interview, Hasina warned that Bangladesh could drift back towards what she called the "dark days" of 2001 to 2006, when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in power, saying rising militant and extremist forces posed a renewed risk to stability.

Hasina, who has been living in India since her Awami League government collapsed following student-led protests in 2024, also stressed that her absence from the country did not amount to political silence...