Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin is preparing to step down from office on Friday amid intense political pressure as concerns grow over the potential return of ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Media reports indicate that the president will tender his resignation directly to parliament speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad. The mounting pressure followed recent statements from Hasina who told reporters that she intends to return to Bangladesh from exile in India to face legal proceedings.
Last year, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) set up in Dhaka to investigate alleged domestic war-crimes of Hasina Wajid’s government, sentenced her to death in absentia after finding her guilty of authorizing lethal force against demonstrators during the student-led protests of 2024, which resulted in fourteen hundred deaths and her ultimate flight from the country.
Following her escape to India, Hasina’s party Awami League faced a political ban, with numerous senior officials of the party being imprisoned.
Hasina, who currently resides in India, stated in an interview earlier in the month: “My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed.”
President Shahabuddin assumed office in 2023 and remained one of the few political allies of the Hasina Wajid administration to retain his position after an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took power.
Although the constitutional term of the President was scheduled to conclude in 2028, Shahabuddin, who previously had expressed frustration over his position, told reporters last December that he felt humiliated after authorities removed his portraits from diplomatic missions abroad.
Despite staying on after Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) landslide electoral victory in February, growing opposition triggered renewed calls for his departure.
Reports highlight that Shahabuddin will likely cite medical reasons for his exit, aligning with the return of parliamentary speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad from medical treatment in Thailand.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed noted that the administration issued no formal directives to the president, emphasizing that constitutional provisions permitted voluntary resignation.
