Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina resigns, flees country amid unrest

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday and fled the country after more people died in one of the worst violence to hit the South Asian nation.

Hasina, 76, left the country and an interim government will be formed soon, army chief General Waker-Us-Zaman said in a televised address.

In an address to the nation, the Bangladesh army chief asked protesters not to “indulge in violence”.

“An interim government will be formed,” the army chief said. “Justice will be served for each death. Keep faith in the army.”

Waker-Us-Zaman said he had invited political leaders to a meeting and will also meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin. The army expects to reach a solution tonight, he said.

Hasina’s resignation follows student-led clashes with pro-government supporters that have left about 100 dead. About 200 were killed in the unrest last month.

Peaceful protests to do away with a government jobs quota had begun in late June but soon turned worse with protesters pushing for Hasina’s ouster.

The turmoil has roiled the domestic economy, which depends on aid from the International Monetary Fund, apart from foreign exchange earnings from garment exports.

The nation’s economy has taken a $10 billion hit from recent the intermittent curfews and internet shutdowns following the latest protests, Zaved Akhtar, president of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a note last week.

The violence was a stumbling block for garment manufacturers who could not operate, affecting the country’s foreign exchange earnings.

Some media reports said Hasina flew out in a military helicopter with her sister, and was headed to India.

The Bangladesh Air Force’s C-130J Hercules jet became one of the most tracked flights on flight tracking website  Flightradar24.com. The jet, with the call sign AJAX1431, was believed to be carrying Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi.

Television visuals from Bangladesh showed thousands storming and ransacking Hasina’s official residence ‘Ganabhaban’, shouting slogans, and showing victory signs.

People were seen carrying away televisions, chairs and tables, as also fish, chicken and vegetables from the building.

Thousands of people poured into the streets of capital Dhaka in jubilation while shouting slogans and humming.

Student activists had called for a march to capital Dhaka on Monday defying a curfew to force Hasina to resign.

India had on Sunday advised its nationals residing in Bangladesh to exercise “extreme caution” and restrict their movements in the wake of fresh waves of violence in the neighboring country.

In the advisory, India also urged its citizens not to travel to Bangladesh till further notice.

“All Indian nationals presently in Bangladesh are advised to exercise extreme caution, restrict their movements and remain in contact with the High Commission of India in Dhaka,” it said.

On July 25, India’s ministry of external affairs had said that around 6,700 Indian students had returned from Bangladesh in view of the situation in the country.

Hasina has been the world’s longest serving female head of a government. In January, she won a fourth term as prime minister in an election that her opponents and voters boycotted.

The US had imposed visa curbs on members of Hasina’s party and law enforcement officials last September.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father, was killed in a coup in 1975 when he was prime minister. Videos on social media on Monday showed people climbing atop a statue of Rahman in Dhaka and damaging its arms with hammers.

The incident in Bangladesh is similar to a similar civil unrest in Sri Lanka in 2022 that forced then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee on a military jet as protesters stormed his office.