India, May 19 -- Bangladesh could witness a return to the "dark days" of the period between 2001 and 2006, when the BNP was in power, due to the rise of militant and extremist forces, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina warned in an e-mail interview.

Hasina, who has lived in self-exile in India since the collapse of her Awami League government in the face of student-led protests in 2024, also pledged that she will go back to Bangladesh "very soon", but indicated that her return is linked to a "democratic environment" with the restoration of political rights. The Awami League is currently banned in Bangladesh and Hasina has been given a death sentence by the country's International Crimes Tribunal. Edited excerpts:

May 17 is a very emoti...