Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned following weeks of deadly nationwide protests calling for quota reform, Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced in an address to the nation on Monday. The news comes as Sheikh Hasina fled the country and took refuge in India after protestors called for her resignation, storming her residential home in Dhaka.
According to local media, the army chief announced the formation of an interim government, where he will preside. Zaman vowed to take “full responsibility” and prosecute those responsible, highlighting the economic hardships and the deaths the country has witnessed during the deadly protests. He further urged the population and students to remain calm and maintain peace. In light of the former prime minister’s resignation, thousands took to the streets to celebrate, defying the nationwide curfew.
Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and the news of the formation of an interim government comes following weeks of violent protests which resulted in hundreds of protestors being killed during mass student demonstrations against a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government positions for Bangladesh Liberation War veterans and their descendants.
Bangladesh’s High Court upheld the government civil quota system in a judgment in July after the Appellate Division of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court suspended the quota system for one month following protests, finding that the judiciary and all authorities of the state machinery were bound by previous authority preserving the quota system. It held that violation of the quota system “is contemptuous,” directing the government of Bangladesh to put back in place the quota for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters, as well as continue quotas for districts, women, physically challenged person[s], tribes, minor races, and other ethnic groups.
Upon appeal from the government, the Bangladeshi Supreme Court’s Appellate Division overturned the High Court’s decision and scaled back the quota system. According to the new rules, only seven percent of government positions will be subject to a quota, five percent of which is reserved for liberation war descendants. However, some student organizers called for protests to continue, despite the ruling, over the killings of demonstrators.
The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk expressed concern over the country’s situation, referring to protestors’ treatment by the police as “shocking” and “unacceptable” and called on authorities to abide by the norms of international human rights law. He urged the Bangladeshi government to undertake all the necessary measures to reinstall an “environment conducive to dialogue” and restore the public trust in the government, advising that the government should provide the details of all the victims of police violence and urged the government to conduct an “impartial, independent and transparent investigation” into the alleged human rights violations, emphasizing that his office is willing to offer support.
