[ Anisur Rahman ]
DHAKA, 5 Aug: Bangla-desh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and an interim government is taking over, Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced here on Monday, in a dramatic development amid massive protests against her government that claimed more than 100 lives in the last two days.
“I’m taking all responsibility (of the country). Please cooperate,” he said in a televised address amid reports that Hasina has left the country.
The Army chief said that he has met political leaders and told them the Army would take over responsibility for law and order. However, there were no leaders from Hasina’s Awami League party at the meeting.
Hasina, the 76-year-old daughter of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had been ruling the strategically located South Asian nation since 2009. She was elected for a record fourth consecutive term and fifth overall term in the 12th general election held in January, amid a boycott by the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former premier Khaleda Zia and its allies.
More than 100 people have been killed in the protests against the Hasina government over the last two days. The country has been witnessing fierce demonstrations over the controversial quota system that reserves 30 per cent of jobs for the families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war.
As protests spiralled across the country, the Army chief said he has asked both the Army and the police not to fire any shots.
Zaman also urged restraint and asked protesters to end the violence. He vowed “justice” for all the people.
Soon after the Army chief’s announcement, hundreds of people took to the streets, celebrating Hasina’s ouster.
Earlier, hundreds of protesters stormed the prime minister’s official residence ‘Ganabhaban’. Footage showed protesters looting Hasina’s official residence and some of them were seen carrying chairs and sofa from the Ganabhaban residence.
Local media reports said that Hasina’s party office at 3/A Dhanmondi in the capital was set on fire by the protesters. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan’s house was vandalised by demonstrators.
Protesters also smashed Hasina’s father Mujibur Rahman’s statue with hammers as they celebrated her departure.
The government earlier ordered a complete internet shutdown as protestors asked the general public to join a ‘Long March mo Dhaka’. However, a government agency gave a verbal order to start broadband internet around 1:15 on Monday.
Six people were killed in a fresh round of violence on Monday morning as thousands of protesters had gathered for a Long march to Dhaka’.
The police and military were seen on the roads as protesters started gathering in the capital.
On Sunday, the clashes between protesters demanding Hasina’s resignation and the ruling Awami League supporters in different parts of Bangladesh, forcing authorities to cut off mobile internet and enforce a nationwide curfew for an indefinite period.
At least 101 people, including 14 policemen, were killed in clashes on Sunday, leading Bengali-language newspaper Prothom Alo reported.
The clashes on Sunday erupted days after over 200 people were killed in violent clashes between the police and mostly student protesters demanding an end to the controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.
Since then, more than 11,000 people have been arrested.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk asked the country’s political leadership and the security forces to abide by their obligations to protect the right to life, and the freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
BSF orders ‘high alert’ along border
Meanwhile, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday issued a “high alert” across all its formations along the 4,096-km India-Bangladesh border in the wake of the developments in the neighbouring country, officials said.
BSF Director General (Acting) Daljit Singh Chawdhary and other senior commanders have landed in Kolkata to review the security situation, they said.
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 leaves of all the personnel posted along the Bangladesh border were cancelled in the last few weeks after Bangladesh witnessed massive protests and now all units have been asked to “acquire an all alert posture,” he said.
The BSF guards the Indian front on the eastern flank of the country that runs along five states: West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, and Mizoram. (PTI)
