Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday made her first public media appearance in two years from New Delhi, saying she would return to Bangladesh by December despite fears she could be arrested or even killed. The virtual address, held on the second anniversary of her ouster, came as India reiterated it had no role in the privately organised event.

The press event was held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. The former prime minister of Bangladesh fled Dhaka two years ago after facing widespread student-led protests and has been living in India since then.

Ahead of the event, India reiterated that the media interaction was being organised by a private entity and said the government neither had any role in it nor endorsed the views expressed there. Bangladesh had earlier expressed concern that the event could affect improving bilateral ties.

In a virtual interaction with the media in Delhi, former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina said, “For the last two years, I watched my beloved Bangladesh suffer…This is not the Bangladesh we built; this is not the Bangladesh for which 3 million people sacrificed their lives in 1971.”