AGL 38.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.52 (-1.34%)
AIRLINK 141.40 Decreased By ▼ -2.00 (-1.39%)
BOP 5.64 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (7.63%)
CNERGY 3.87 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (4.03%)
DCL 7.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.26%)
DFML 47.40 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (2.16%)
DGKC 79.75 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.4%)
FCCL 27.44 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.07%)
FFBL 54.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.27%)
FFL 8.60 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.47%)
HUBC 113.51 Increased By ▲ 2.49 (2.24%)
HUMNL 11.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-1.93%)
KEL 3.99 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (5.84%)
KOSM 8.54 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.52%)
MLCF 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.57%)
NBP 63.80 Increased By ▲ 2.45 (3.99%)
OGDC 169.40 Decreased By ▼ -2.50 (-1.45%)
PAEL 25.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.60 (-2.33%)
PIBTL 5.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.34%)
PPL 125.75 Decreased By ▼ -1.80 (-1.41%)
PRL 24.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.79 (-3.09%)
PTC 13.26 Increased By ▲ 1.11 (9.14%)
SEARL 57.45 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (0.79%)
TELE 7.12 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.28%)
TOMCL 35.00 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.57%)
TPLP 7.45 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (7.19%)
TREET 14.32 Increased By ▲ 0.47 (3.39%)
TRG 46.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-1.08%)
UNITY 26.18 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.5%)
WTL 1.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.83%)
BR100 9,091 Decreased By -2.4 (-0.03%)
BR30 27,347 Increased By 28.9 (0.11%)
KSE100 85,669 Increased By 5.3 (0.01%)
KSE30 27,216 Decreased By -224.9 (-0.82%)
World

Sheikh Hasina flees Bangladesh, ‘heading to London’ as military takes over

  • Bangladesh army chief General Waker-Us-Zaman confirms Hasina has resigned
  • Television visuals show thousands of people pouring into the streets of the capital Dhaka in jubilation and shouting slogans
Published August 5, 2024

DHAKA/COPENHAGEN: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on Monday as she fled more than a month of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government.

Hasina had sought to quell nationwide protests against her government since early July but she fled after a brutal day of unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed.

“We want a corruption-free Bangladesh, where everyone would have the right to express their opinion,” said Monirul Islam, a 27-year-old man among thousands in the streets near the prime minister’s palace.

Bangladesh’s army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television Hasina had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government.

“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed – it is time to stop the violence,” said Waker, dressed in military fatigues, shortly after jubilant crowds stormed and looted Hasina’s residence.

At least 20 people were killed during violence in the Bangladesh capital on Monday, Bacchu Mia, a police inspector at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told AFP.

Millions of Bangladeshis took to the streets across the South Asian country, many celebrating peacefully.

Jubilant crowds waved flags, some dancing on top of a tank in the streets, before thousands broke through the gates of Hasina’s official residence.

Bangladesh’s Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the compound, waving to the camera as they celebrated, looting furniture and books while others relaxed on beds.

‘Injustices will be addressed’

However, mobs also attacked the homes of Hasina’s close allies, witnesses told AFP.

Others torched television stations that had backed her rule, set fire to offices of her Awami League and smashed statues of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence hero.

“The time has come to make them accountable for torture,” said protester Kaza Ahmed. “Sheikh Hasina is responsible for murder.”

Waker said protests should end and vowed that “all the injustices will be addressed”.

The career infantry officer said he would talk to the president to form a caretaker government in the nation of some 170 million people.

It was not immediately clear if he would lead it.

Security forces had supported Hasina’s government throughout the unrest, which began last month against civil service job quotas and then escalated into wider calls for her to stand down.

Waker said he had held talks with the main opposition parties and civil society members but not Hasina’s Awami League.

Hasina, 76, fled the country by helicopter, a source close to the ousted leader told AFP.

A top-level source in neighbouring India said Hasina was “transiting the country but was heading to London”.

Bangladesh’s military said they had shut Dhaka’s international airport on Monday evening, without giving a reason.

However, there were widespread calls by protesters to ensure Hasina’s close allies remained in the country.

‘Major vacuum’

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, warned that Hasina’s departure “would leave a major vacuum” and that the country was in “uncharted territory”.

“The coming days are critical, as it moves toward what will hopefully be a peaceful transition,” he said.

“The key now is to move the process along, to create the interim set-up, to ease uncertainty and reduce the risk of more volatility.”

Demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota scheme that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.

The protests escalated despite the scheme being scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court.

At least 94 people were killed on Sunday, the deadliest day of the unrest, with protesters and government supporters battling each other with sticks and knives, and security forces opening fire.

The latest violence took the total number of people killed since protests began in early July to at least 320, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and doctors at hospitals.

Soldiers and police in several cases did not intervene to stem Sunday’s protests, unlike during the past month of rallies that repeatedly ended in deadly crackdowns.

On Monday, soldiers and police with armoured vehicles in Dhaka had barricaded routes to Hasina’s office with barbed wire but vast crowds flooded the streets, tearing down barriers.

Bangladesh has a long history of coups.

The military declared an emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government for two years.

Hasina then ruled Bangladesh from 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government was accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Grameenphone’s 3G, 4G networks reinstated

Bangladesh telecoms operator Grameenphone reinstated 3G and 4G networks, allowing people to access mobile internet services across the country, Norway’s Telenor told Reuters in the evening.

Grameenphone had appealed to the government for the immediate and full restoration of mobile internet services, Telenor said in an emailed statement.

Voice and SMS connectivity had been maintained throughout the recent political turmoil even as mobile internet services were disconnected, the company added.

“Access to the internet is crucial for individuals and businesses across Bangladesh, who rely on it for fundamental day-to-day activities and access to essential services,” the Norwegian company said.

Bangladesh curfew to end Tuesday, businesses to reopen: military

Bangladesh’s military said it would lift a curfew imposed to quash protests at dawn Tuesday, hours after it seized power following the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Offices, factories, schools, colleges… will be open” from 6:00 am Tuesday (0000 GMT), the military said in a statement.

Who is the Bangladesh army chief who announced Hasina’s resignation?

Earlier, French news agency AFP had reported that Hasina’s resignation would be a “possibility”, as six more people were killed in some of the worst violence since the birth of the South Asian nation more than five decades ago.

“You see, the situation is very volatile. What is happening, I myself don’t know,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told Reuters at the time.

Meanwhile, NetBlocks said internet connectivity was partially restored in Bangladesh as the army chief was to speak to the nation.

Student activists had called for a march to the capital Dhaka on Monday in defiance of a nationwide curfew to press Hasina to resign, a day after deadly clashes across the country killed nearly 100 people.

 Passersby look at a burnt vehicle along a street amid anti-government protests in Dhaka on August 5, 2024. Bangladeshi security forces patrolled the capital on August 5, as protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation said they would take to Dhaka’s streets again following the deadliest day of unrest since demonstrations erupted last month. Photo: AFP
Passersby look at a burnt vehicle along a street amid anti-government protests in Dhaka on August 5, 2024. Bangladeshi security forces patrolled the capital on August 5, as protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation said they would take to Dhaka’s streets again following the deadliest day of unrest since demonstrations erupted last month. Photo: AFP

As protesters began to march in some places, armoured personnel carriers and troops patrolled the streets of the capital, Reuters TV showed. There was little civilian traffic, barring a few motorcycles and three-wheel taxis.

Bangladesh protesters call for march to Dhaka in defiance of curfew

Police hurled sound grenades in some parts of the city to disperse small groups of protesters, the Bengali language Prothom Alo newspaper reported.

Elsewhere, thousands of protesters had surrounded law enforcement officers stationed in front of a key building, it said.

The military spokesperson’s office had earlier said that “the public is requested to refrain from violence and be patient,” until the army chief’s address, Prothom Alo reported.

Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence that began last month after student groups demanded scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs.

That escalated into a campaign to seek the ouster of Hasina.

Also read:

Comments

200 characters
KU Aug 05, 2024 02:26pm
She had to take refuge in India, shows what happens when people are treated unfairly, society takes mob-crowd charge, 500 civilians died. Maybe we should learn a lesson or two/leaders wake-up.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
KU Aug 05, 2024 02:46pm
True picture of despotic rule, she was. Leaders revel in their corrupt lives in our part of the world n forget, ''You can kill a revolutionary but you can never kill the revolution.'' - Fred Hampton.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Aamir Aug 05, 2024 03:36pm
We are heading the same way. It has become impossible for the common man to survive in Pakistan. The govt has to drastically cut it's expenses and stop taxing us to death.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Qasim Khwaja Aug 05, 2024 03:47pm
Great job people of Bangladesh!!!
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Toy Soldier Aug 05, 2024 04:13pm
Can the poor oppressed populace of the country draw any inspiration from this?
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
mustafa Aug 05, 2024 04:25pm
all parties in Pakistan are in Power .. KPK is with PTI ... and if we want. to solve issues we need to stop producing 7 million Kids...
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Abdullah Aug 05, 2024 04:42pm
@Aamir , no we are not heading in the smae way.we have corrupt leaders be it the ruling or opposition.imran nawaz and zardari are all the same.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Az_Iz Aug 05, 2024 04:42pm
She was elected again and again thru farce elections.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Az_Iz Aug 05, 2024 05:06pm
Not too long ago, she was elected by a huge margin. And today,she got kicked out. It shows, what kind of farce, the elections were.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Az_Iz Aug 05, 2024 05:57pm
I so wish this was happening right here in Pakistan.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Shahzad Aug 05, 2024 06:02pm
@Aamir , very correct.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Ali Asghar Aug 05, 2024 06:19pm
So, sooner or later we are going to see similar things happening in Pakistan, while the government is raising taxes of common man to unbearable level and keeping their luxuries intact with benefits.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
mustafa Aug 05, 2024 07:25pm
population growth and low productivity is the reason behind failure of government .. sooner or late when IT and service cash will hit the roof, same will be witnessed in INDIA ...
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Mujahid Aug 05, 2024 07:38pm
@mustafa, inshallah brother
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Majeed Aug 05, 2024 07:44pm
@mustafa, even if we are broke and eat grass, we have to see this day inshaallah.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Farrukh Aug 05, 2024 07:47pm
@mustafa, well said. Sincerely praying for this.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
zh Aug 05, 2024 09:29pm
@Abdullah, You left out the name of an important personality.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply
Aslam AA Aug 06, 2024 11:35am
@mustafa, sir you are a true Pakistani. We should strive hard to bring them to their knees. I am dedicating my life for this.
thumb_up Recommended (0) reply Reply