Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday resigned and fled the country amid widespread anti-government protests, Bangladeshi Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman announced.
Waker-uz-Zaman said that an interim government will be formed.
Hasina left the country along with her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, Prothom Alo reported. While several reports said that the two had arrived at an Indian Air Force base near Delhi, it was not clear where they were ultimately headed.
This came after the student-led protests against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs, which started in July, evolved into a broader agitation against her administration.
On Monday afternoon, protestors stormed the prime minister’s official residence in Dhaka, BBC reported.
Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy told the BBC on Monday that his mother will not make a political comeback. He was the official advisor to the prime minister.
Joy said that Hasina had been considering resigning since Sunday and left the country for her safety after her family’s insistence.
Waker-uz-Zaman held meetings with political parties and civil society members after Hasina left the capital, Prothom Alo reported. While speaking at a press conference later, he said that no member of Hasina’s Awami League party was present for the meeting.
The 4G mobile internet services, blocked after violent demonstrations on Sunday, were restored.
The Awami League’s offices in Dhaka and Dhanmondi districts were set on fire by protestors, Prothom Alo reported.
The Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party called on the protestors to remain peaceful.
The Army chief also urged student protestors to “stay calm and go back home” and assured that the perpetrators of all killings will be punished.
At least 93 persons were killed and over 1,000 injured in different parts of the country on Sunday, reported The Daily Star. With this, the toll in anti-government protests since July crossed 300, according to AFP.
In July, over 200 persons were killed amid protests that erupted after a High Court ruling in June reinstated the 30% quota in government jobs for family members of freedom fighters of the 1971 Bangladeshi Liberation War.
The reservation system, which was abolished in 2018 following widespread protests, rekindled anger among young job seekers and students who fear that they would be deprived of opportunities because of the quota.
On July 21, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court scaled back, but did not abolish, most of the quotas in government jobs.
The appellate division of the country’s top court directed 93% of the government jobs to be open to candidates without quotas, setting aside the lower court’s ruling.
The protestors, however, returned to the streets last week demanding justice for those killed and injured and calling for Hasina to resign.
Hasina, who had been ruling Bangladesh since 2009 and secured her fourth consecutive term in January’s elections, has faced sharp criticism for her government’s heavy-handed response, with reports of extrajudicial killings and mass detentions.
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