Bangladesh: PM Hasina resigns amid massive protests

The United States government called for calm after Bangladesh's military announced that it would form an interim government.

It comes after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following widespread anti-government protests.

"The United States has long called for respecting democratic rights in Bangladesh, and we urge that the interim government formation be democratic and inclusive. We commend the Army for the restraint they have shown today," a White House spokesperson said.

"If it is true in fact that the army resisted calls to crack down on lawful protesters, that would be a positive development," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "We welcome the announcement of an interim government and urge any transition be conducted in accordance with Bangladesh's laws." 

He called for "full and transparent investigations" into the deaths of dozens of protesters during demonstrations.

Nusrat Chowdhury, associate professor of anthropology at Amherst College in Massachusetts, US, told DW that General Waker-Uz-Zaman's announcement that the military would set up an interim government did not constitute a "military coup."

The announcement came after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following widespread anti-government protests.

"This was a student-led protest that then became widespread and ordinary citizens joined in solidarity," Chowdhury said.

Chowdhury said that Bangladeshis were "giving the military the benefit of the doubt" during the transitional period, but added that she believed that if the officers attempt to "hijack" Bangladesh's democracy "the students [will] be back on the streets in no time."

She said that there was a lot of "cumulative resentment" against Hasina in the lead up to the former premier's resignation, adding that the last three elections were "widely believed to [have been] rigged" and that Bangladesh was facing a major economic and cost of living crisis.

Chowdhury said that Hasina's government "was becoming an authoritarian regime" before her resignation.

She said that Hasina's resignation was unsurprising given the scale of the protests and the death toll in the dozens.

"We were expecting some kind of big event, we just didn't know when that was going to happen," she said.

Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of jailed former prime minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, according to a statement from his press team.

It comes after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. The opposition has accused Hasina's government of rigging elections and has boycotted multiple votes.

The statement said that a meeting led by the president "decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately."

Zia, who is 78 and in poor health, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for graft in 2018.

"The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests," the statement said.

Also at the meeting was army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, who announced on Monday that the military would establish a caretaker government.

Alongside him, top leaders of several opposition parties were also present, including the BNP and the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Bangladesh's military is reportedly lifting a curfew previously imposed by the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quell anti-government protests that led to her resignation.

"Offices, factories, schools, colleges... will be open" from 6:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday (0000 GMT), the French AFP news agency cited the military as saying in a statement. 

The news was also reported by local media outlets.

The European Union called for there to be an "orderly and peaceful transition toward a democratically elected government" in Bangladesh.

The bloc's diplomatic service issued the statement after Bangladeshi army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman confirmed the military would form a transitional government following former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.

The EU said that it received assurances from Waker-Uz-Zaman that "all unlawful killings will be impartially investigated," referring to deaths occurring during anti-government protests.

"We call for calm and restraint," EU top diplomat Josep Borrell said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

All flights in and out of Bangladesh's biggest hub, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, will be suspended for at least six hours, the army announced.

Although the military said they were doing so out of security concerns, army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman sought to reassure a jittery nation by promising order would soon be restored, saying he had already met with lawmakers and civil society leaders about forming an interim government.

Indian media has reported that former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has landed at Hindon Airport, which is also an Indian air force base, outside of New Delhi.

Hasina reportedly fled with her sister.

The ex-PM had lived in India for years. Her family settled there after her father, Sheikh Mujib Rahman, the first leader of an independent Bangladesh, was killed in a coup in 1975.

Having served for a combined total of over 20 years (June 1996 to July 2001 and January 2009 to August 2024), Sheikh Hasina is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Bangladesh's history.

The daughter of Bengali nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh, she survived a 1975 coup d'etat, which saw her father and most of her family murdered.

Having been visiting Europe at the time, Hasina took refuge in the house of the Bangladeshi ambassador to West Germany with her husband and children. After accepting an offer of political asylum from Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the family remained in New Delhi for six years, but Hasina was banned from returning to Bangladesh by the military government.

She finally returned home in May 1981 as head of the Awami League, became leader of the opposition in 1991 and became Prime Minister for the first time in 1996.

After returning to opposition in 2001, she survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Dhaka in 2004 before being detained on extortion charges during the 2006-2008 political crisis.

After her release, she won a second term as Prime Minister at the head of a "Grand Alliance" in 2009, going on to win third, fourth and fifth terms in elections regularly boycotted by opposition parties and criticized by international observers.

She resigned and fled the country on August 5, 2024. 

The current massive anti-government protests in Bangladesh have their roots in student-led rallies that began in mid-July, during which demonstrators voiced opposition to a high court decision to reinstate quotas for government jobs after they had been abolished in 2018 following massive student protests.

Under the quota system, more than half of civil service jobs were reserved for specific groups. For example, 30% of government jobs were set aside for family members of veterans who fought in the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

In response to the public anger, on July 21 the Supreme Court cut the quotas, advising that 93% of all appointments should be based on merit with immediate effect, with 5% going to descendants of so-called freedom fighters, and 2% to people from ethnic minorities or with disabilities.

The government accepted the advice of the court, but this failed to mollify protesters, who continued to stage wider anti-government demonstrations calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down, a demand with which she has now seemingly complied.

The protesters have also called for authorities to be held accountable for those killed during the protests, the number of which is estimated to be in the hundreds. 

In confirming Hasina's resignation on Monday, Bangladesh's army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman added that authorities would "punish" those responsible for protest deaths. 

"The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed, it is time to stop the violence," he said in a televised speech. 

Hasina's ruling Awami League party has claimed the transformation of the rallies into broader anti-government protests is an indicator that the protests have been appropriated by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has flown by helicopter to India's northeastern city of Agartala as she flees from massive anti-government protests, according to multiple intelligence sources speaking to media. 

Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of Tripura, is just 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) east of the border to Bangladesh

India is set to offer a safe passage to Hasina, the reports said, citing intelligence sources.

In an address to the nation, Bangladesh's army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman has said he will form an interim government, confirming that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had resigned. 

He added that he would seek the president's guidance on forming a new government.

"I am taking full responsibility," the general said, although it was not clear if he would head a caretaker government.

Zaman also promised justice for all those killed during weeks of anti-government protests, adding that the military would stand down.

"Keep faith in the military, we will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible," he said. "I have ordered that no army and police will indulge in any kind of firing."

In his address, he also called on students to remain calm and go home, saying he was trying to "find a solution for the country."

His remarks come after Hasina was reported to have fled the country amid the massive demonstrations, during which dozens, including police, are said to have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told AFP news agency that Hasina's departure "would leave a major vacuum."

"If it's a peaceful transition, with an interim set-up taking over until elections are held, then stability risks would be modest and the consequences would be limited," he said.

"But if there is a violent transition or a period of uncertainty, that could risk more destabilization and problems inside and outside."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stepped down from her position after 15 years in power, the army has said.

The move comes after weeks of massive protests that began as rallies against job quotas in the civil service but have since mutated into demonstrations calling for the 76-year-old Hasina's resignation.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government has been accused by rights groups of suppressing dissent by violent means and of abusing state institutions to bolster its hold on power.

Protesters stormed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's palace on Monday after reports emerged that she had fled to safety.

Bangladesh's Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the compound, waving to the camera as they celebrated.

Student protesters had been calling for a march on the capital, Dhaka, following deadly protests on Sunday that claimed dozens of lives, including those of 14 police officers.

Security forces had barricaded routes to Hasina's office with barbed wire on Monday morning, but huge crowds flooded the streets, tearing down barriers.

tj/wmr (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)