AFPDProtesters celebrate after Hasina’s resignation
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 05:03
Bangladesh’s outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has fled the country. A military plane took her to India. Her current whereabouts are unclear. According to Indian media, she tried to seek asylum in the United Kingdom, but because there was no agreement on the terms, she has since been placed in a safehouse in India.
Hasina resigned yesterday after weeks of protests that left more than 300 people dead. The protests were against a new job quota that would have divided more than half of government jobs among certain groups. Those protests escalated into a wider protest, with demonstrators demanding Hasina’s resignation.
After her departure, the head of the army announced that an interim government would be formed. The United States has insisted that the formation of this interim government be democratic and inclusive. “We encourage all parties to refrain from further violence and to restore peace as soon as possible,” a spokesman for the US National Security Council said.
Meeting students
The protests began peacefully last month when students of Dhaka University took to the streets with banners to express their dissatisfaction over the announced job quota. In less than a week, nearly 10,000 students were arrested.
The initiators of these student protests have now called on Facebook for Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to be appointed as chief advisor in the formation of the government. The Bangladeshi army has announced in a separate statement that the army chief will meet the initiators today at 12:00 local time.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh President Mohammad Shahabuddin has ordered the release of Khaleda Zia, who was the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 2006. The 78-year-old Zia is in poor health and had been in a prison hospital.
Zia was sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption in 2018. Her Bangladesh National Party saw this as a political conviction and boycotted the last elections. Her son is in exile.
Daughter of a freedom fighter
Hasina and her Awami League party had been in power for twenty years, the last fifteen of which were continuous. The protesters claimed that Bangladesh had turned into a dictatorship under her leadership.
Moreover, criticism of the new job quota also reflected on Hasina. According to this quota, a third of government jobs would go to relatives of veterans who fought for the country’s independence in 1971. Hasina is the daughter of one of the country’s most famous independence fighters. Critics saw the quota as a way for Hasina to strengthen her own support base.
In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, people celebrated Hasina’s resignation yesterday:
Bengalis celebrate president’s resignation: ‘Today we get what we deserve’
