Bangladesh in disarray; Sheikh Hasina flees the country
The student protests in Bangladesh began against a quota system for government civil service that has left large numbers of university graduates unable to find jobs and has brought unrest to the country in the past few years after its reintroduction in 2024
By IAR Desk
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned from her position and an interim government will run Bangladesh said the country’s Chief of Army Staff General Waqar-uz-Zaman on Monday.
The Bangladesh Army Chief said the political transition is underway and all “murders will be judged.” He also called on the people of the country to trust the Army while appealing for an immediate stop to the nationwide violence.
“Maintain peace and order in the country. You trust me, let’s work together. Please help. I won’t get anything by fighting. Avoid conflict. We have built a beautiful country together,” the Army Chief said.
He added that he had a meeting with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jatiya Party, and Jamaat-e-Islami. Teachers Afis Nazrul and Jonayet Saki.
The student protests in Bangladesh began against a quota system for government civil service that has left large numbers of university graduates unable to find jobs and has brought unrest to the country in the past few years after its reintroduction in 2024. Under the quota system, people from families of participants in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, representatives of ethnic and religious minorities, and regions underrepresented in the civil service and people with disabilities are given priority for entry into state offices.
Later, the Supreme Court stepped in to roll back the lower court’s decision.
However, there was no let-up in the protests which gathered momentum after Sheikh Hasina administration banned the radical religious group Jamaat i-Islami. Many members of the Jamaat ‘s students’ wing and affiliated groups were part of the protest movement.
Bangladesh’s economy has suffered $10 billion in losses due to recent student riots, curfews and mobile phone and internet bans, said Zavid Akhtar, chairman of the Bangladesh Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
