Within hours, she would be swept away by popular support; few could have guessed how quickly she would leave.
Her son told the news that it was the counsel of close family members, not senior security officials, that encouraged her to flee.
Ms Hasina made her decision just in time; masses gathered at her home within a few hours of her escape.
The National Security Committee meeting, scheduled late on Sunday morning, brought the embattled prime minister together with the country’s top three military chiefs, senior security.
Pressure on the prime minister has been building for weeks as anti-government rallies erupted across the country. Hundreds of people have been slain in the worst violence in Bangladesh since the country’s 1971 independence struggle.
On Sunday alone, at least 90 people were killed, the majority of them were protestors shot by security forces, but there was also an increase in the number of police officers killed by crowds.
Officials told news Bangla that Sheikh Hasina wanted to keep “two options” open. While there were plans for her to escape the country, she preferred to remain in power until the very end – by force.
