US wanted Hasina to hand over key island?

It might have remained a mystery what Sheikh Hasina wanted to tell the nation before she resigned as Prime Minister, were it not for her decision to break the vow of silence.

That speech, it will be recalled, was never delivered, as the protesters barged into her palace and the country's top security officers advised her to leave Dhaka at the earliest.

Now, safely ensconced in India, the 76-year-old has spoken up about the mystifying undelivered speech, accessed by NDTV. In a letter, Sheikh Hasina has accused the US of plotting to oust her regime and claimed that she could have remained in power if she had surrendered the sovereignty of the strategic Saint Martin Island which would have given America control of the Bay of Bengal.

The innocuous-sounding island drew attention when allegations flew thick and fast that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, had planned to sell it to the US to build a military base in exchange for help in winning elections.