Sheikh Hasina Resigns Amid Protests; Army Chief Forms Interim Govt

As violence gripped Bangladesh amid ongoing student protests, Sheikh Hasina resigned as the country’s Prime Minister and left the country in a military helicopter.

Confirming it in a televised address to the nation, Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman today announced that an interim government will be formed to run the country. The Army Chief said he is taking full responsibility and would talk to the president to form the interim government. He urged the countrymen to remain patient and maintain peace.

Bangladeshi media reported that PM Hasina left for a “safer place” after hundreds of protestors stormed Gonobhaban — the official residence of the Prime Minister in Dhaka.

Around 100 people were killed and over 1,000 injured in the clashes that took place between the police and protesters on Sunday.

The students had been protesting against a 30 per cent reservation in government jobs for relatives of freedom fighters who wrested independence for Bangladesh from Pakistan in a bloody civil war in 1971. Protesters argue that this system is discriminatory and favours supporters of Prime Minister Hasina’s Awami League party. They advocate for a merit-based system to replace the existing quota.

The quota system was established in 1972 and briefly abolished in 2018. The protests began last month following a High Court order to restore 30 per cent job quotas for descendants of freedom fighters. After the Supreme Court slashed the reservations to 5 per cent on the 21st of last month, student leaders put the protests on hold but the demonstrations flared up because the students said the government ignored their call to release all their leaders, making the resignation of PM Hasina their primary demand.