DHAKA: Following weeks of violent student-led protests, the 76-year-old abruptly left the nation.
What caused this to happen?
After nearly 300 people were killed during student protests demanding equitable access to government jobs, a larger movement for justice was launched, ultimately leading to Hasina’s resignation.
The students’ initial demands were to abolish a quota system that allocated thirty percent of government jobs to the relatives of those who fought in 1971 to free Pakistan. Even after the Supreme Court two weeks ago mostly complied with their demands regarding quotas, the protests persisted due to the government’s harsh response to them, which began in mid-July.
Images that surfaced showed police and members of the ruling Awami League party’s student wing attacking protesters with live fire, machetes, and cars, but the internet was completely shut off during the worst of the violence. Individuals in Dhaka have reported nightly raids that have resulted in the arrest of 11,000 people.
Before the planned Monday large-scale protest, the raids went on through the night. However, the unexpected news that Hasina had left the nation by helicopter soon followed.
Who is Sheikh Hasina?
Having held the position from 1996 to 2001 and then since 2009, the 76-year-old was the world’s longest-serving female prime minister.
Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is largely regarded as the founding father of Bangladesh. She led the party that he founded, deeply linking the party’s legitimacy to his legacy. Only because she and her sister were in Europe in 1975 did Hasina survive the assassination of her father and all of her family members in a coup by army officers. She soon rose to the position of leader of the party.
What follows?
In the meantime, until elections can be held, the military has declared that it has assumed power and will establish an interim administration. There is a widespread hope that the nation will avoid reverting to its previous patterns. After a period of military rule ended in the 1990s, the Awami League and BNP have been at odds for control ever since. However, the involvement of students in the most recent protests has sparked hopes for a different approach that could end the cycle.
In addition to urging demonstrators to go back to their homes, Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman, the head of the military, also pledged to look into the killings.
Hasina is said to have traveled from Dhaka to India by helicopter, and it is anticipated that she will apply for asylum abroad.
