Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announces plans to return to the country in December, Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir visits Turkey amid deepening defense cooperation, and inflation rises in India after energy market shocks.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announces plans to return to the country in December, Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir visits Turkey amid deepening defense cooperation, and inflation rises in India after energy market shocks.

Hasina Threatens Homecoming

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Reuters last week that she plans to return to the country in December, along with other Awami League party leaders, and voluntarily present herself in court. She has been in India since August 2024, when her government was ousted amid mass protests.

Last November, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina to death in absentia for crimes against humanity in connection with the crackdown on protesters—charges that she rejects as politically motivated. According to the United Nations, Hasina’s security forces used massive force against demonstrators, resulting in as many as 1,400 deaths.

“They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me,” Hasina said. “Still, I have to go. … If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil.”

Hasina previously said she would return to Bangladesh sometime this year, but this is the first she has given a specific time frame. There are a few possible reasons. One is an expectation that her political fortunes have improved since a new government took office in February led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

The Awami League and BNP are bitter rivals, and Hasina’s political feud with the late Khaleda Zia—the longtime BNP leader and Rahman’s mother—dominated Bangladeshi politics for decades.

However, the interim government that led the country from August 2024 until February took an especially hostile position toward the Awami League. (Appointed leader Muhammad Yunus was hated by Hasina, and the two often feuded.) It banned the party from political activities and targeted pro-Hasina media outlets. Hasina’s sentence was handed down during the interim government’s........

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