Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina flees to India: A look at leaders who left home countries after political turmoil

Bangladesh descended into chaos as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina surreptitiously resigned and fled the country in a military aircraft while the army stepped in to fill the power vacuum.

As the news of Hasina’s departure spread, hundreds of people broke into her residence, vandalising and looting the interiors, providing dramatic expression to the anti-government protests that have killed more than 300 people in a fortnight.

While the Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has said that an interim government would be formed as soon as possible after dissolving the parliament, let us take a look at all the leaders who have fled their home countries after a turmoil.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa - Sri Lanka

The president of Sri Lanka from November 2019 until July 2022, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was faced with massive protests in the country owing to the prevailing economic crisis.

President Rajapaksa tried to tackle the crisis for a few weeks along with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe before he was forced to flee his official residence in the face of massive protests over the economic crisis that has brought Sri Lanka to its knees.

He, however, fled to the Maldives without resigning from his office. From Maldives, he went to Singapore which "allowed" him to enter into the city-state on a "private visit".

From an undisclosed location, President Rajapaksa informed Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena about his decision to step down.

Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai - Afghanistan

Ashraf Ghani served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021 before the Taliban overthrew his government. On August 15, 2021, the situation in the entire country became chaotic after which Ghani fled Afghanistan. However, he later told in his interview with the BBC that he fled the country to prevent any further destruction of Afghanistan.

Pervez Musharraf - Pakistan

Musharraf served as the president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. He came to power after the Pakistani army staged a coup d'état in 1999 against Nawaz Sharif which allowed Musharraf to take over the country as president in 2001. However, his regime was marred with a decline in the domestic savings of Pakistan, economic inequality and accusations of human right abuses. He even imposed an emergency in 2007. In order to avoid impeachment, Musharraf resigned in 2008 and left for London on a self-imposed exile, only to return to the country in 2013.

Sadiq al-Mahdi - Sudan

Sudanese political and religious figure, Sadiq al-Mahdi was the prime minister of Sudan from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989. In his second term, he formed a coalition government comprising his Umma Party and his brother-in-law's National Islamic Front. However, this coalition proved to be unstable and Sadiq al-Mahdi's government was toppled by a 1989 coup led by Brigadier Omar al-Bashir. He then lived in exile in several countries and headed the opposition from abroad.

Aristide - Haiti

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's first democratically elected president was ousted in a 2004 coup d'etat. He had claimed that the US had a hand in orchestrating the coup against him. He went into exile in South Africa and Central Adrican Republic , only to return to Haiti in 2011.

(With PTI, Reuters inputs)