The military would establish a caretaker administration to bring peace and order back to Bangladesh, according to Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, hours after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina abruptly resigned and left the nation amid violent anti-government rallies. Thousands of protesters attacked Sheikh Hasina’s official mansion and other properties connected to her family and party following her resignation, causing inside damage and looting.
Beginning on Friday, there were at least 300 deaths from the ongoing anti-government rallies in Bangladesh, including police deaths. Similar demonstrations occurred last month when Hasina’s government’s 2018 decision to eliminate a quota system for government positions was overturned by the Bangladesh High Court. The quota system included a 30% reservation for families of veterans of the country’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. After the government appealed, the Supreme Court, however, set August 7 as the date for hearing the government’s petition and postponed the high court’s order. When Hasina refused to accede to the students’ requests, citing legal proceedings, the rallies became more violent.
Top updates on the situation in Bangladesh are included below:
1) Sheikh Hasina landed at Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, on a C-130 cargo plane. She resigned on Monday, ending her 15-year reign. She is anticipated to travel to London tomorrow, where she might apply for political asylum. Hasina has since been relocated to a safe place in India.
2) According to media sources, Rehana, Sheikh Hasina’s UK-citizen sister, is traveling with her.
3) After she resigned, Waker-Uz-Zaman, who took over as army chief on June 23 of this year, declared that the armed forces would establish a provisional administration and promised that any injustices or fatalities that occurred during the recent protests would be looked into by the relevant authorities. Shortly after crazy mobs attacked and looted Hasina’s official mansion, he declared, “It is time to stop the violence. The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed.”
4) President Mohammed Shahabuddin of Bangladesh declared that the Parliament, which was established following this year’s January elections, would be dissolved.
5) Former prime minister and prominent opposition figure Khaleda Zia, as well as inmates from the protests, were ordered to be released by President Shahabuddin. Notably, Hasina, Zia’s bitter opponent, imprisoned the ailing Zia for graft in 2018.
6) At a late-night meeting with Shahabuddin’s press team on Monday, the president, the army chief, and prominent opposition figures declared that it had been “decided to form an interim government immediately.”
7) Thousands of demonstrators poured into and out of Hasina’s official residence all day on Monday. They removed furniture, started fires, and took raw fish out of the fridge. Additionally, they gathered in front of the parliament building, where “justice” was displayed on a banner. Additionally, they destroyed the ancestral home turned museum owned by Hasina’s family, where her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s first president and leader of independence, was slain, according to the AP.
8) Following Hasina’s arrival in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a cabinet meeting discussing the Bangladeshi situation.
9) The US demanded that Bangladesh maintain its composure and that a democratic and inclusive procedure be used to form the interim government. Washington encourages all sides to abstain from additional violence and restore peace as soon as possible, according to statements made independently by the US Department of State and the White House, according to ANI.
10) Following Hasina’s resignation and flight, the World Bank stated that it is evaluating how the events in Bangladesh may affect its loan program with that nation. We lament the bloodshed and heartbreaking deaths that have occurred in Bangladesh in recent weeks and we look forward to a speedy and amicable settlement. A World Bank representative was quoted by Reuters as saying, “We are evaluating the impact of the current circumstances on the World Bank Group program and remain committed to supporting the development aspirations of the people of Bangladesh.” Notably, one of the earliest development partners to assist Bangladesh after its independence was the World Bank. Since then, the bank has given the disaster-prone nation grants and interest-free credits totaling around $41 billion.
