Military in control of Bangladesh following PM’s ouster

DHAKA (AFP): Bangladesh’s military was in control of the country on Tuesday after mass protests forced longtime ruler Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee.

The unrest began last month in the form of protests against civil service job quotas and then escalated into wider calls for Hasina to stand down.

Hasina, 76, had been in power since 2009 but was accused of rigging elections in January and then watched millions of people take to the streets over the past month demanding she step down.

Hundreds of people died as security forces sought to quell the unrest, but the protests grew and Hasina finally fled Bangladesh aboard a helicopter on Monday as the military turned against her.

Army chief General Wakeruz Zaman announced on Monday afternoon on state television that Hasina had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government.

“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” said Zaman, shortly after jubilant crowds stormed and looted Hasina’s official residence.

Traffic was lighter than usual on Tuesday in the usually chaotic streets of Dhaka and schools reopened with thin attendance after closing down in mid-July as protests against quotas in government jobs spiralled.

Garment factories, which supply apparel to some of the world’s top brands and are a mainstay of the economy, will remain closed on Tuesday and plans to reopen will be announced later, the main garment manufacturers association said.

Nobel laureate Yunus expected to join interim government

Student protest leaders, ahead of an expected meeting with the army chief, said that they wanted Nobel laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus, 84, to lead the government.

“In Dr Yunus, we trust,” Asif Mahmud, a key leader of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group, wrote on Facebook.

A reliable source confirmed to The Daily Star that Yunus has agreed to lead the interim government as its chief adviser.

Yunus himself has not commented on the call, but in an interview with India’s The Print, he said Bangladesh had been “an occupied country” under Hasina.

“Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated,” it quoted Yunus as saying.