After 15 years in power, Bangladesh’s prime minister has suddenly resigned and fled the country. Sheikh Hasina’s departure came after weeks of student-led protests were met with deadly force, and has been greeted with jubilation on the streets of the capital, Dhaka.
What led to this?
Students protested for fairer access to government jobs and were met with violence, including the killing of nearly 300 people, sparking a broader movement for justice that has forced Hasina to step down.
The students had originally demanded the removal of a quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for the families of people who fought for independence from Pakistan in 1971. But the government’s harsh response to the protests since mid-July meant they continued even after the supreme court largely met their demands on quotas two weeks ago.
The internet was entirely cut off during the worst of the violence but images that emerged showed police and members of the ruling Awami League party’s student wing attacking protesters with live fire and machetes and running them over with vehicles. People in Dhaka have described nonstop night-time raids, which have led to 11,000 people being arrested.
The raids continued overnight before a mass protest that had been called for Monday – but then came the surprise announcement that Hasina had fled the country by helicopter.
Who is Sheikh Hasina?
The 76-year-old was the longest-serving female prime minister in the world, having been in power since 2009 and before that from 1996 to 2001.
She led the party founded by her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, widely considered Bangladesh’s founding father, closely tying the party’s legitimacy to his legacy. In 1975 Hasina survived the assassination of her father and their whole family in a coup by army officers only because she and her sister were in Europe at the time. Shortly afterwards she became the party’s leader.
Her most recent term delivered strides forward in development and economic growth, especially in the garment sector, but many have felt the benefits are mostly concentrated on Dhaka and an extremely rich elite.
Her rule has also been characterised by growing levels of authoritarianism. Much of the opposition, especially the Bangladeshi Nationalist party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, have been attacked and arrested. Extrajudicial killings have been widespread and journalists have said they feared doing the most basic reporting in case it was deemed to reflect badly on the government.
Elections under Hasina have had claims of election fraud and the most recent, in January, was boycotted by the opposition.
How is Bangladesh’s independence still relevant to politics today?
Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan was won in 1971 after a bitter nine-month war during which Bangladesh claims 3 million people were killed and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
The country’s violent birth still plays a divisive role in Bangladesh’s politics, and Hasina and the Awami League have projected themselves as the protectors of the independence legacy.
There has long been a bitter and often violent divide between the Awami League and the main opposition BNP, whose leader, Khaleda Zia, was married to Ziaur Rahman, the party’s founder and the president after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975. Ziaur Rahman’s supporters have argued that it was in fact him, then an army officer who revolted against the Pakistani forces, who first declared independence and not Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Hasina has also often used the collaboration of some groups with the Pakistani military to denounce her opponents. During the current protests she angered the students by saying those on the streets were razakars – a term referring to a Bengali militia that supported the Pakistani army.
What happens next?
The military has announced it has taken control and will be forming an interim government until elections can be held. Many are hoping the country will not fall into the same patterns as before. The Awami League and BNP have tussled for power since the 1990s, when democracy was restored after a period of military rule, but the role of students in the recent protests has raised hopes of an alternative to break the cycle.
The military chief, Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, has called on protesters to return to their homes and promised an investigation into the killings.
A helicopter reportedly took Hasina from Dhaka to India and she is expected to seek asylum abroad.