Bangladesh Under Army Rule, PM Sheikh Hasina Resigns & Flees As Protesters Storm Palace [Watch]

New Delhi: Bangladesh Army Chief Waker-Uz-Zaman on Monday declared that an interim government will run the country after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the capital Dhaka amid violent clashes and mounting pressure on her administration.

“PM Sheikh Hasina has resigned. Interim government to run the country. No need of curfew or any emergency in country, will find a solution to crisis by tonight. Representatives of main political parties were present in discussion with Army. Request students to stay calm and go back home,” the Army Chief said in a televised address.

While calling for peace, he assured the public to investigate every death related to the current unrest. “Keep faith in the military, we will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible. I have ordered that no army and police will indulge in any kind of firing,” he added.

END OF 15-YEAR RULE

Hasina boarded a military helicopter around 2.30 pm. She was  accompanied by her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, according to a report by Dhaka Tribune. 

“She and her sister have left Ganabhaban (the Prime Minister’s official residence) for a safer place. She wanted to record a speech. But she could not get an opportunity to do that,” a source close to the embattled leader told the news agency AFP.

Her helicopter is likely to land in Agartala, reported BBC Bangla.

MASS MARCH TO CAPITAL DHAKA

The protesters stormed the palace soon after the news of Hasina’s sudden departure broke. Visuals broadcast on Bangladeshi TV channels showed crowds running into the premier’s official residence while waving to the camera, overturning furniture, smashing glass door panels, and carrying off books and other items, including a live chicken.

The protesting students had called for the march to Dhaka in defiance of a nationwide curfew to press for the PM’s resignation after deadly clashes killed nearly 100 people on Sunday. The government had declared an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6 pm (1200 GMT) on Sunday and also announced a three-day general holiday starting from Monday.

 

HIGH ALERT ALONG INDIA-BANGLADESH BORDER

The Border Security force in India has issued ‘high alert’ to all units along the 4,096 km India-Bangladesh border in wake of these developments in the neighbouring country.

BSF director general (acting) Daljit Singh Chawdhary and other senior commanders have landed in Kolkata to review the security situation. The force has directed all its field commanders to be “on ground” and “deploy all personnel on border duty immediately”, a senior officer told PTI.

THE PROTEST

The protests began last month as students demanded an end to a quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971. It soon escalated into a campaign to seek the ouster of Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition, and a broader revolt against her ruling Awami League party.

Protesters, mostly students, deemed this system discriminatory, accusing it of benefiting Hasina’s supporters disproportionately.

The violent clashes with police and pro-government activists left more than 200 dead. At least 95 people, including  14 police officers, died in the capital on Sunday, according to the country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo.

The violence and deaths continued as Supreme Court scaled back the controversial quota system for civil service job applicants but stopped short of complete abolition. On June 5, the HC declared the government’s 2018 decision, cancelling 30 per cent quota system for the freedom fighters’ children, as illegal.