Sheikh Hasina lands in India, meets Ajit Doval at airbase amid Bangladesh unrest
The protests against a quota system for government jobs turned violent on July 16 when student activists clashed with security officials and pro-government activists, prompting authorities to disperse tear gas, fire rubber bullets and impose a curfew with a shoot-on-sight order. Internet and mobile data were also turned off.
"The country is going through a revolutionary period," said Zaman, 58, who had taken over as army chief only on June 23.
"I promise you all, we will bring justice to all the murders and injustice. We request you to have faith in the army of the country," he said. "Please don't go back to the path of violence and please return to non-violent and peaceful ways."
Sheikh Hasina resigned as Bangladesh Prime Minister and arrived in India on Monday. An interim government will soon be formed with the army's support.
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina landed near Delhi at 5:36 pm on Monday, not long after she resigned and flew out of the country along with her sister amid massive and deadly anti-government protests, reports 'India Today'.
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met her at the Hindon airbase near Delhi where her flight landed. She discussed the crisis in Bangladesh and her future course of action with Doval.
Her departure from Bangladesh caps her 15-year rule and comes weeks after student protests left over 300 dead. Unrest continues in Bangladesh with many protesters storming the Parliament in Bangladesh following Hasina's departure from the country.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crisis in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, unrest continues in Bangladesh with protesters storming the Parliament.
The BSF has issued a high alert along the India-Bangladesh border. Train services, both passenger and freight services going towards the Bangladesh border areas, have been suspended.
Bangladesh's army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said an interim government would take charge. "We will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible," he said at a press conference. "I have ordered that no army and police will indulge in any kind of firing... Now, the students’ duty is to stay calm and help us."
Amid unrest in Bangladesh, a mob vandalised Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's father and former Bangladesh President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman statue in Dhaka.
The involvement of foreign powers cannot be ruled out in the Bangladesh unrest, said former Indian Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla amid a political crisis in India's eastern neighbourhood.
Protests in Bangladesh began peacefully in late June, as students sought an end to a quota system for government jobs, but turned violent after clashes between protesters and police and pro-government activists at Dhaka University. Attempts to quell the demonstrations prompted further outrage as nearly 300 people were killed and leading to demands for her resignation.
In defiance of the nationwide curfew, thousands of protesters took to the streets for a planned "Long March to Dhaka" on Monday. In Dhaka, people marched past armoured vehicles and heavily armed security personnel.
(The Guardian, London, reports:
Celebrations erupted among the crowds who had been on the streets of Dhaka for another day of protests.
The internet was cut for several hours overnight and residents told the Guardian of raids and gunshots, including in the most affluent areas, before a planned mass protest called for Monday.
Sheikh Hasina’s government was accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the killing of opposition activists.
The latest student-led protests began over a quota system they said disproportionately allocated government jobs to the descendants of freedom fighters from the 1971 independence war.
The government’s harsh crackdown on protests has led to hundreds of deaths, which continued despite the supreme court overturning the quota law. Agence France-Presse reported there had been 94 deaths on Sunday.
The demonstrations escalated despite the scheme having been scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court. The anti-government movement had attracted people from across society – including actors, musicians and singers – in the south Asian country of about 170 million people.
During the briefing at army headquarters, Zaman promised an investigation into the deaths.
A curfew was put in place on Monday and offices and factories were closed but protesters have still taken to the streets. Bangladeshi TV channels showed jubilant demonstrators dancing and chanting at locations across Dhaka.
One protester sent the Guardian a video of a crowd marching and shouting in celebration, some of them waving Bangladeshi flags, near Shahbagh, where protesters had planned to gather.
“I feel out of this world, we’re dancing in the streets now,” she said. “People are celebrating, singing, dancing. I’ve never seen this many tears of joy. People are smiling and crying at the same time.”
The celebrations have in some places turned unruly, with thousands raiding the prime minister’s residence and seen looting items, including vegetables from the gardens and live fish from the ponds in the grounds. Cars could be seen burning inside the compound. There has been vandalism on several offices of Hasina’s party, the Awami League, across the capital city, with at least one being set on fire.
A statue of Hasina’s father, the founding father of Bangladesh and former President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was also attacked and smashed by a mob, according to witnesses.
Badiul Alam Majumdar, a civil society activist, who founded the group Citizens for Good Governance, said people hugged him as he walked the streets.
“These are the heroes and heroines,” he said, referring to protesting students. “We had a crazy dictator. What we are now concerned about is who will benefit from this revolution? And that, in fact, is what we are watching - a revolution.”
The sense of jubilation has been tempered by concern about instability because of the chaos on the streets. The army has announced Dhaka airport will be closed for six hours.
Hasina is the longest-serving leader in the history of the predominantly Muslim country. Before being elected in 2009, in a vote boycotted by the opposition, she had already been prime minister between 1996 and 2001.
Her political opponents have accused her of growing increasingly autocratic and called her a threat to democracy.
Her father, the independence leader of Bangladesh, was assassinated in 1975 during an army coup.
Most of his family members were killed, with the exception of his two daughters, Hasina and Sheikh Rehana. Regional media reported Monday afternoon that the two sisters had now fled to India with tens of thousands of people tracking a Hercules military plane thought to be hers.
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