Bangladesh's president dissolves parliament, paving the way for elections to replace Hasina
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Bangaldesh's president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for new elections to replace the longtime prime minister who resigned and left the country after weeks of violent unrest.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin's office announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon. Earlier, a protest leader had threatened to return to the streets if parliament was not dissolved on the same day.
Hasina resigned and fled the country by helicopter as protesters defied military orders to march on the capital before thousands of demonstrators stormed her official residence and other buildings associated with her party and family.
Her departure came after weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs turned deadly, fueling a wider challenge to her 15-year rule. The government tried to quell the demonstrations by closing schools, imposing curfews and sending in troops to fire tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition, resulting in around 300 deaths, but those heavy-handed tactics only it brings even more discontent.
Bangladesh's senior president and its top military commander said late Monday that a caretaker government would soon be formed to preside over new elections.
Military chief General Waker-uz-Zamam said on Monday he was temporarily taking control of the country as soldiers tried to quell the unrest. The military wields significant political influence in Bangladesh, which has faced more than 20 coups or attempted coups since independence in 1971.
Mohammed Shahabuddin, the country's president, said after meeting Waker-uz-Zamam and opposition politicians that Parliament would be dissolved and a national government formed as soon as possible, leading to new elections.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who could lead Bangladesh's new interim government, is currently in Paris for the Olympics. He termed Hasina's resignation as “the second day of liberation”. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
A longtime opponent of the ousted leader, he was accused of corruption by her government and tried on charges he said were motivated by revenge. He received the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microcredit.
Student organizer Nahid Islam said the protesters would put forward more names for the cabinet and suggested it would be difficult for those in power to ignore their wishes.
The streets of Dhaka appeared calmer on Tuesday, with no reports of fresh violence.
Amid the celebrations, student Juairia Karim said it was a historic day: “Today we get what we deserve,” she said. “Everybody's happy, everybody's merry.”
Jubilant protesters still flocked to the ousted leader's residence, some posing for selfies with soldiers guarding the building where a day earlier angry protesters looted furniture, paintings, flower pots and chickens.
But the country was still reeling from weeks of violent unrest that produced some of the country's worst bloodshed since its 1971 independence war. Many fear Hasina's departure could lead to even more instability in the densely populated Asian nation of the South, already facing crises from high unemployment to corruption and climate change.
Violence just before and after Hasina's resignation left at least 109 dead, including 14 policemen, and hundreds more injured, according to media reports that could not be independently confirmed.
Amid security concerns, the main airport in the capital Dhaka suspended operations for eight hours.
In the southwestern district of Satkhira, 596 prisoners and inmates escaped from a prison after an attack on the center late Monday, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported, while police stations and security officials were attacked throughout the country.
Police in Dhaka largely left their posts and gathered in a central barracks fearing attacks after several posts were set on fire or vandalized.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday urged people to exercise restraint in what it said was a “transitional moment on our democratic path”.
“It would defeat the spirit of the revolution that overthrew the illegitimate and autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina if people decide to take the law into their own hands without due process,” wrote Tarique Rahman, the party's interim president, on social media platform X.
In a statement on Monday, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said the transition of power in Bangladesh must be “consistent with the country's international obligations” and “inclusive and open to the meaningful participation of all Bangladeshis.”
Hasina landed at a military airfield near New Delhi on Monday after leaving Dhaka and meeting India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Indian Express newspaper reported. The report said Hasina has been taken to a safe house and is likely to travel to the United Kingdom.
The 76-year-old was elected to a fourth consecutive term in a January vote that was boycotted by her main opponents. Thousands of opposition members were jailed before the polls, and the US and UK denounced the result as unreliable, although the government defended it.
