EGN NEWS DESK
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India on Monday after 15 years in energy. The 76-year-old Hasina, who’s the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the primary Prime Minister of the nation, had change into more and more authoritarian lately. But it was the clashes between police and anti-government protesters, which have left no less than 300 dead, that in the end proved her undoing.
Hasina’s political party, the Awami League, was central to Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 and has performed a outstanding function within the nation’s politics since its founding. The former Prime Minister’s give attention to public well being and financial improvement led to one of the crucial profitable public well being campaigns in South Asia and a dramatic discount within the variety of individuals within the nation residing in poverty. In the final years of her rule, although, arrests, disappearances, and extra-judicial killings of her political opponents had change into extra frequent, in line with the BBC, and the final three elections had been deemed to have too many irregularities to be declared free and truthful by worldwide observers.
Hasina’s resignation and the political instability it brings places the nation’s future in a precarious place. Here is what to know.
Read More: Sheikh Hasina and the Future of Democracy in Bangladesh
Why did Sheikh Hasina resign and flee?
Trouble for Hasina started when protests broke out within the nation over a Supreme Court ruling that reinstated a 30% quota for the descendents of Bangladesh’s independence fighters for presidency civil service jobs. These jobs are among the many most safe and well-paying jobs out there to younger Bangladeshis, and plenty of college college students believed the regulation was discriminatory and disproportionately benefited members of Hasina’s political party, the Awami League party, which was on the forefront of the nation’s independence motion. The youth unemployment charge in Bangladesh stands at 15.7%, in line with the World Bank.
The student-led protests gained momentum in early July earlier than turning violent on July 15, when members of the Bangladesh Chatra League, the coed wing of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League political party, attacked protestors with sticks, golf equipment, and revolvers, in line with Amnesty International. The authorities additionally shut down the web for 11 days between July 17 to July 23 after which shut it down as soon as once more between Sunday and Monday.
On July 16, police had been dispatched to Begum Rokeya University in Northwest Bangladesh, the place they used tear fuel and shot rubber bullets at protesters, fatally killing no less than one scholar. The clashes continued to escalate, and native media has reported no less than 300 individuals had been killed for the reason that protests began, prompting additional outrage from the Bangladeshi public. On Monday, protesters stormed Hasina’s official residence in defiance of a army curfew order, and Hasina fled the nation to India.
Who is at the moment governing Bangladesh?
Bangladesh’s military chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, mentioned in a televised tackle on Monday that he was briefly taking management of the nation. He informed the general public that the army would guarantee a peaceable transition of energy and maintain accountable these accountable for the killing of scholar protestors.
“Keep religion within the army, we are going to examine all of the killings and punish the accountable,” he mentioned in line with the Associated Press. “I’ve ordered that no military and police will take pleasure in any form of firing.”
He additionally requested scholar protestors to cooperate with the interim authorities. “Now, the scholars’ obligation is to remain calm and assist us,” he added.
Mohammed Shahabuddin, who holds the largely ceremonial function of President of Bangladesh, introduced late on Monday that parliament could be dissolved and recent elections could be held as quickly as doable. As of now, opposition leaders and the nation’s army leaders are trying to type an official interim authorities.
Bangladesh has confronted over 20 coups or coup makes an attempt because it achieved independence in 1971. The nation had beforehand been below the rule of a number of army generals between 1975 and 1990 till a democratic authorities was reestablished. The army has traditionally held a major quantity of political energy within the nation, with the newest foiled coup try occuring in 2012. The army is at the moment taking part in a outstanding function in Hasina’s absence.
Who may take over?
One title that has been prompt by a outstanding chief of the coed protests is Muhammad Yunis, who gained a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work on microlending, which gives individuals residing in excessive poverty with loans to assist them begin profitable small companies and escape poverty. Yunis, 87, has been a very long time opponent of Hasina and was sentenced to 6-months in jail by her authorities on prices of violating labor legal guidelines in January 2024, although he was capable of make bail. He was subsequently indicted for embezzlement in June 2024. Yunis maintains that each these prices are politically motivated.
Another vital individual in Bangladesh’s politics, former Prime Minister and opposition chief Khaleda Zia, was free of home arrest on Tuesday, the place she has been imprisoned for six years following a corruption case. Zia is the official chair of the Bangladesh National Party, which is the biggest opposition party in Bangladesh. Zia and Hasina’s rivalry has dominated Bangladeshi politics, however at 78 years outdated Zia struggles with a number of well being points. Whether or not she takes a outstanding function within the nation’s new authorities stays to be seen. Tarique Rahman, her son and vice chairperson of the Bangladesh National Party, has returned to Bangladesh after being compelled into exile by Hasina’s authorities. On the social media platform X, he inspired individuals to train restraint and endurance as they look forward to a brand new everlasting authorities to type.
“It would defeat the spirit of the revolution that toppled the illegitimate and autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina if individuals resolve to take the regulation into their very own fingers with out due course of,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
