- Army chief says he had held talks with leaders of major political parties, except Hasina’s party to discuss way ahead
- Interim setup will hold polls as soon as possible after consulting all parties and stakeholders: President
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s parliament was dissolved on Tuesday after protesting student leaders demanded it, warning of a “strict programme” if their deadline was not met, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled following a violent uprising.
Nahid Islam one of the key organisers of the movement against Hasina, said on Facebook with two other student leaders that parliament should be dissolved by 3pm (0900 GMT) on Tuesday and asked “revolutionary students to be ready” if that did not happen.
The demands came amid ongoing political unrest in Bangladesh, which has seen over 300 deaths and thousands of injuries as protests against government job quotas evolved into a broader campaign against Hasina’s 16-year rule.
The unrest culminated in Hasina’s resignation and departure from the country on Monday.
Amid reports of Hindu temples being targeted during the unrest and chaos that ensued following Sheikh Hasina’s escape, Islam blamed members of the former primer minister’s Awami League party of orchestrating the attacks to defame the students movement.
Bangladesh’s army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, was scheduled to meet with student leaders at 0600 GMT to discuss forming an interim government, expected to oversee upcoming elections.
Zaman announced Hasina’s resignation, marking a significant shift in the nation’s political landscape.
While some normalcy returned to Dhaka, with lighter traffic and a few schools reopening, the capital remained tense.
Student leaders have proposed Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus as the chief adviser to the interim government, a role Yunus has reportedly agreed to accept.
“Any government other than the one we recommended would not be accepted,” Nahid Islam warned, categorically stating: “We wouldn’t accept any army-supported or army-led government.”
“We have also had discussions with Muhammad Yunus and he has agreed to take on this responsibility at our invitation,” Islam added.
Yunus, 84, and his Grameen Bank won the 2006 Nobel Peace prize for work to lift millions out of poverty by granting tiny loans of under $100 to the rural poor of Bangladesh but he was indicted by a court in June on charges of embezzlement that he denied.
Zaman said he had held talks with leaders of major political parties – excluding Hasina’s long-ruling Awami League – to discuss the way ahead and was due to hold talks with the president Mohammed Shahabuddin.
An interim government will hold elections as soon as possible after consulting all parties and stakeholders, President Shahabuddin said in a televised address late on Monday.
He also said that it was “unanimously decided” to immediately release the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson and Hasina’s nemesis, Begum Khaleda Zia, who was convicted in a graft case in 2018 but moved to a hospital a year later as her health deteriorated. She has denied the charges against her.
A BNP spokesperson said on Monday that Zia, 78, was in hospital and “will clear all charges legally and come out soon”.
Hasina, 76, had ruled since winning a decades-long power struggle with Zia in 2009. She landed at a military airfield, Hindon, near Delhi on Monday after leaving Dhaka, two Indian government officials told Reuters, adding that India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met her there.
They did not elaborate on her stay or plans. The Indian Express newspaper reported that Hasina was taken to a “safe house” and she was likely to travel to the United Kingdom. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
