Suprovat Sydney report: In the quiet suburbs of Sydney Australia, a former high-ranking Bangladeshi civil servant is fighting a battle on two fronts: one against an aggressive form of blood cancer, and the other against a political landscape in her homeland that has turned her 25-year career into a target for retribution.
A Journey of Grief and Necessity
The woman, who served for over two decades in the Press Information Department (PID) under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, never intended to stay in Australia. Her arrival in 2018 was a mission of mercy. Following the tragic death of her eldest daughter in 2017, she travelled to Sydney to provide “motherly guidance” to her orphaned three-year-old grandson, Ethan, and to support her son, an international student.
However, shortly after her arrival, she received a diagnosis that changed everything: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).
A Medical Impasse
What followed was a harrowing medical journey. The aggressive cancer led to a cascade of complications, including acute kidney injury, respiratory distress, and CMV retinitis, a condition threatening her sight.
“My doctors have been very clear,” she stated. “I am medically unfit to fly. The recycled air of a cabin and the lack of sterile environments in Bangladesh would be fatal.”
Medical experts confirm that Bangladesh currently lacks the specialized, sterile isolation wards and intensive hematology protocols required to manage ALL patients in her condition. For her, deportation is not just a change of address; it is a withdrawal of life support.
The Political Fallout
While her health deteriorated, her home country underwent a violent transformation. Following the collapse of the Awami League government in August 2024, the civil service—once a pillar of stability—has become a hunting ground for those seeking revenge.
The two Information Ministers under whom she served, Hasanul Hoque Inu and Hasan Mahmud, are now either imprisoned on murder charges or in hiding. In the current climate of Bangladesh, a 25-year tenure in the PID is seen by many not as professional service, but as political complicity.
“I have seen the reports,” she says. “Former colleagues have had their homes burned. Mobs are looking for anyone associated with the previous administration. Even if I survived the flight, I would not survive the streets.”
A Family Left in Limbo
For her grandson, Ethan, she is the only remaining link to his late mother. Her presence has been the stabilizing force in his life since the 2017 tragedy. If she is forced to return, the family fears Ethan will lose a second mother figure to the combined forces of political instability and medical neglect.
As the interim government in Bangladesh prepares for elections, and with groups like the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami poised to gain power, the risk to former officials has never been higher. For this grandmother, the “safest and most suitable place” remains Australia—the only place where she can access the medicine she needs to live and the safety she needs to breathe.