Dhaka, Aug 6: With Bangladesh descending into chaos, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina surreptitiously fled the country in a military aircraft and landed in India on Monday while the army stepped in to fill the power vacuum, ending one uncertain chapter and opening another in the nation’s restive history.As the news of Hasina’s departure spread, hundreds broke into her residence, vandalising and looting the interiors, providing dramatic expression to the anti-government protests that have killed more than 100 people in the last two days. At the centre of people’s anger is the Hasina government’s controversial quota system reserving 30 per cent jobs for families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war.
With volatile crowds taking to the streets — some clambering on Hasina’s father and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s statue and smashing it with hammers in a lasting image underscoring the fickleness of history — Army chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced that the 76-year-old prime minister has resigned.
An interim government will be taking over, he said in a televised address amid feverish speculation about where Hasina was headed.
“I’m taking all responsibility (of the country). Please cooperate,” Zaman added, signalling the end of Hasina’s 15-year power run.
The Army chief said he had met political leaders and told them the Army would take over responsibility for law and order. However, there were no leaders from Hasina’s Awami League party at the meeting.
As protests spiralled across the country, the army chief said he had asked both Army and police not to fire any shots.
Zaman also urged restraint and asked protesters to end the violence. He vowed “justice” for all the people.
Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, later in the night, also said that that an interim government would be formed after dissolving the parliament as he ordered the release of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who is under house arrest after being convicted in several cases.
After hours of uncertainty in a day of sudden developments, Hasina landed at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad near New Delhi as part of her plan to go to London, diplomatic sources in the Indian capital said.
Following Hasina’s arrival in a C-130J military transport aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met her and is understood to have conveyed India’s position on the developments in Bangladesh, sources said.