Dhaka, 05 August 2024 (BSS-Misc)

Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman in an address to the Bangladesh nation announced resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who fled from Dhaka. He said that army has taken over the affairs of the government, however, he said that he will form an interim government to run the country.

Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman said that ‘We have held a fantastic discussion. We have decided to form an interim government’, he held a meeting with leaders of different political parties at the Army Headquarters this afternoon.

He vowed to launch an investigation into the deadly crackdowns that fueled outrage against the government as nearly 300 people were killed in protests over the past month. At least 94 people were killed on Sunday, including 14 police officers.

Sheikh Hasina accompanied by her sister, Sheikh Rehana left by Bangladesh Air Force aircraft AJAX1431, was being tracked by more than 29,000 people, the most tracked aircraft in the world now. Around 4.15 pm, it was near Varanasi.

During the conflict in 1971, Sheikh Hasina during her teen age had lived in Agartala, State of Tripura in India.

Protesters and government supporters countrywide battled each other with sticks and knives, and security forces opened fire. Videos on social media verified by AFP showed protesters in Dhaka climbing a statue of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and smashing it with hammers Sunday.

Cheering protesters stormed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official residence Ganabhaban after she left the country this afternoon. Jubilant looking crowds waved flags, some dancing on the streets of Dhaka on Monday morning, before hundreds broke through the gates of Hasina’s official residence, according to AFP.

The government has urged all the students and their guardians to return home and stay safe, saying that militant attacks are taking place in different places across the country. “Militant attacks are taking place in various places. Strict action will be taken against the attackers,” reads a government press release here today.

Prime Minister Hasina’s resignation came as student activists called for a march on Dhaka on Monday in defiance of a nationwide curfew, and demanded her resignation.

The demonstrations began with students seeking to end a quota system for government jobs, but clashes with police and pro-government activists escalated into violence.

Sheikh Hasina won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition – to step down. Thousands of opposition members were imprisoned as she sought to run for a fourth term. Daughter of founder leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had been leading the country of 160 million people since 2009.

Her political opponents have have accused her of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota scheme that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.