DHAKA: As Bangladesh adjusts to life after Sheikh Hasina, the curfew has been lifted, communications have mostly been restored, and scores of protestors who were detained during weeks of unrest are being released.
The matriarch resigned as prime minister on Monday, citing a deadly crackdown on rallies that started as anti-job quota marches and grew into a movement calling for her removal. She then fled into exile.
In a nationally televised speech, Army Chief Gen. Wakeruz Zaman announced her retirement and stated that a temporary administration will be established.
Without any opposition, exuberant mobs entered the lavish grounds of the presidential palace and stole TVs and furniture. One man carried an armful of vases, while another balanced a red velvet chair with gilded edges on his head.
It was stated shortly after Hasina’s departure that President Mohammed Shahabuddin had chosen to release opposition leader and sick former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
Along with important opposition figures, the president and army chief held a late-night meeting on Monday. According to the president’s press team, it was “decided to form an interim government immediately,” though it was unclear whether Gen. Zaman would serve as its head.
A statement released following the meeting stated, “The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests.”
It further stated, “The meeting decided to form an interim government immediately.”
Gen. Zaman, who had only assumed the position of army chief on June 23, stated on television that the nation was going through a revolutionary phase.
“We will bring justice to all the killings and injustices, I swear to you all. We beg you to trust the nation’s armed forces,” he urged.
“Please return to peaceful and non-violent methods and please do not follow the path of violence.”
The departure of the PM
Hasina, 76, departed the nation via helicopter, an individual close to the deposed leader informed AFP.
Following her father Sheikh Mujib’s assassination along with the majority of his family in a 1975 coup, Hasina headed the political movement for 20 of the last 30 years until fleeing into exile. This marked the end of her second 15-year term in office.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina’s son, told BBC World Service that his mother had left the country for her own safety at her family’s demand and that she would not be trying to make a comeback in politics.
Hasina landed at a military base close to New Delhi, according to the Indian news agency ANI. Commercial monitoring systems indicated that a Bangladesh Air Force plane had departed the nation and flew west before going out of service close to Delhi, though Reuters was unable to confirm this.
Hasina was received at the airfield by senior military personnel and India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, according to ANI, which cited sources. She was then taken to a secure area.
Although a high-ranking source stated that she wished to “transit” to London, calls from the British government for a probe into “unprecedented levels of violence” to be led by the UN cast doubt on that.
Mob Aggression
In other parts of Dhaka, demonstrators scaled a statue of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s founder, and started hacking away at the head with an axe.
Police reported that at least 66 people had died on Monday, and they added that gangs had attacked Hasina’s allies in retaliation.
Along with police stations, mobs also broke into and looted Hasina’s Awami League allies’ residences.
Others destroyed sculptures of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, set fire to a museum honoring him, and torched television stations that had supported her leadership.
The international airport in Dhaka was shut down on Monday night, according to the military of Bangladesh.
Protesters made several appeals to guarantee that Hasina’s close allies stayed in the nation.
But the military declared that as of Tuesday, when the curfew ends at 6 a.m. local time, things would return to normal.
Worldwide Response
According to the UN, it is “very closely” monitoring the situation in Bangladesh.
“We remain committed to urging all sides to exercise moderation and respect for the freedom of peaceful assembly and expression,” UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Aziz Haq stated during the daily news conference at UN headquarters in New York.
Following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and departure, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for calm in Bangladesh and emphasized the necessity of a “peaceful, orderly, and democratic transition,” according to a spokesperson for the organization.
Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, advocated for a “orderly and peaceful” handover to an elected government. The United States and Britain, two former colonial powers, pushed for “calm.”
Separately, the State Department and the White House urged all sides to abstain from violence.
“We urge that the interim government be democratic and inclusive, as the United States has long called for Bangladesh to respect democratic rights.” A White House spokesman remarked, “We applaud the Army for the restraint they have shown today.”
