Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stepped down from her office due to violence-filled unrest in the country. On Monday evening, newspapers said she was forced to flee in a helicopter as a crowd stormed the palace of the premier.
Originally, the protests that started last month for the quota reforms in government jobs have escalated and included confrontations between protesters and security services. Sunday saw the death toll rising to ninety-eight confirmed individuals, and overall, reports from the police and medical teams indicate that over 300 have lost their lives.
It has reached a point where the Indian government has had to discourage its citizens from traveling to Bangladesh indefinitely. This has also raised fears of a military coup. The Bangladesh Army has been making assurances that an interim government will be formed soon.
The protests intensified after the High Court of Bangladesh issued a judicious ruling on the restoration of a thirty percent quota in government jobs for the freedom fighter’s descendants.
This was after Prime Minister Hasina declined to address the students’ demands of countermanding the order, thus heightening the protests, which resulted in confrontations with the police and affiliated organizations.
As the violence escalates ever higher, it has seen the protesters demanding Hasina apologize for the deaths and the dismissal of several of her ministers. They have also called for reopening schools and universities that have remained closed since protests began.
The latest development is Hasina’s resignation, and the next few days will be very important in shaping the nation’s future. People will be observing the behaviour of the Bangladesh Army and the formation of the interim government carefully as it will be the biggest political crisis in the country’s recent history.
