By TON Research Team

Sheikh Hasina born 28 September 1947 known by her married name Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the 11th Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, having held the office since January 2009. She also earlier served as Prime Minister for five years. She is the finest and long-serving Prime Minister in Bangladesh history.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the daughter of Bangladesh's first President and founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the “Bangabandhu” meaning “Friend of the Bengal” the principal orchestrator of Bangladesh. She is the eldest of his five children. Her political career has spread more than four decades. Even at the University of Dhaka in the late 1960s, she was active in politics and worked alongside, her father’s political movement. Ms Hasina Wajed and other members of her family also were imprisoned, briefly in 1971 for their partaking during the war of liberation that ultimately led to Bangladesh’s independence. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and her daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed are considered as top Pakistani leaders even today, despite Bangladesh as a separate country. 

On 15 August 1975, Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s father was assassinated in their home by several military officers alongside her mother and their brothers at that time her father was president of Bangladesh. Hasina, who was out of the country when the killings occurred? She subsequently spent six years in exile. During that time she was elected to the leader of the Awami League, which had been originated by her father and had subsequently become the major political party in Bangladesh.

She got to rise and echelon in politics on her return home in 1981 and became a noticeable and blunt advocate of democracy. She ultimately secured herself as leader of the opposition in the parliament. She condemned all kinds of violence occurring due to military rule and initiated measures to secure basic human rights for all citizens.

She formerly served as Opposition Leader from 1986 to 1990 and 1991 to 1995, then as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001. She is leading the Bangladesh Awami League (AL) since 1981. In 2008, she came back as Prime Minister with a landslide victory. In January 2014, she became Prime Minister for a third term in an unchallenged election, as it was boycotted by the Opposition. She won a fourth term in December 2018, following an election blemished with violence and disturbance.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed is considered one of the most influential women globally, ranking 39th on Forbes Magazine's list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2020, 26th in 2018, and 30th in 2017. She has also made a list of "top 100 Global Thinkers" of the present decade. Sheikh Hasina is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former female presidents and prime ministers. Ms Hasina Wajed was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Important People in the World of 2018.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed the daughter of Bangladesh has served Bangladesh in many capacities. She is one of the most remarkable women in world politics because leading the country with the world’s 8th largest population is a gigantic and uphill task. As a result, Sheikh Hasina Wajed's achievements made her one of the most impressive women in the world. She is a firm and outspoken follower of democracy and its values. In addition to all of this, she has received several honors for her achievements as Prime Minister of Bangladesh manifold times.

She is the beneficiary of Honorary Doctor of Law from Waseda University of Japan (1997) and Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Liberal Arts from University of Abertay Dundee (1997), Australia National University (1999), Dhaka University (1999), the Catholic University of Belgium (2000) and Bridgeport, CT (2000). Similarly, UNESCO awarded sheikh Hasina the Felix Houphhouet- Boigny Peace Prize in 2000; she received the Pearl S. Buck Award for 1999 from Randolph Mason Women's College, USA. Both Rotary International and Lions Club have also given her various awards. In addition to all of this, India Peace Council awarded her with the Mother Teresa award in 1998.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed has won the Ceres Medal (1999), the Pearl S, Buck Award, and Indira Gandhi Prize in 2009. Moreover, she is the recipient of the UNESCO Peace Tree award. The award shows her commitment to women’s empowerment and girl’s education. She received many other honors and prestigious awards for her excellent works as a Prime Minister.

Under her able command just a decade ago Bangladesh surpassed its much bigger neighbor like India and even Pakistan in achieving economic accounts as taking a big pace in the field of market economy, on which the world developing economies can only desire and wish . The current GDP rate of Bangladesh has reached around 310.00 USD Billion in 2021 and it is anticipated to go upward to 340.00 USD Billion in 2022 as the situation is alarming for its neighboring countries which are lagging behind to Bangladesh in economic and development sphere.

Her deeds and actions show that action is louder than voice. She believes in peaceful co-existence with her neighboring countries including Pakistan. It is imminent that Bangladesh will further prosper and flourish under the able and charismatic leadership of Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Having a Muslim identity both the countries Pakistan and Bangladesh should work together. It is indeed difficult to bury the hatchet of the past and forget the bitter memories because it always hunts the mind but it is not the end of the world. Being a daughter of Bangladesh’s nation and a progressive lady her work will outshine her country in the future also.