BNP leader and the prime minister’s political assistant Rashed Khan questioned whether Sheikh Hasina is alive and whether an audio statement recently broadcast in India was genuinely hers. He made the remarks on Friday afternoon during an exchange with local journalists at the Mobarakganj Sugar Mill guest house in Kaliganj, Jhenaidah. Khan said that if Hasina is alive, she should return to the country and face the law.

Khan said an audio statement played at a press conference in India could either be Hasina’s real voice or material created using artificial intelligence technology. He also said there was no further opportunity for the Awami League to return to politics, describing the Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League as banned political parties.

He accused Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP activists of creating disorder around a national event marking July Uprising Day, including what he described as a mob in the name of surrounding the Secretariat. Khan urged BNP members to prevent extortion or wrongdoing in the party’s name and said conduct damaging the party’s image would not be tolerated. Local officials, BNP leaders, journalists and Jamaat MP Abu Talib attended.