- Bangladesh Parliament dissolved <unk> New government sought
One day after the long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh, the country's President dissolved Parliament. President Mohammed Shahabuddin's spokesperson announced this on Tuesday. This move met a key demand of the students who had been leading weeks of mass protests against Hasina's government.
Just before the announcement of Parliament's dissolution, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was released from prison, her party announced. "She is now free," said Bangladesh National Party (BNP) spokesperson A.K.M Wahiduzzaman to AFP. Zia, a bitter rival of Hasina, was convicted of corruption and placed under house arrest. The families of both women have dominated Bangladesh's politics since its independence in 1971.
Bloody protests against quota system and government in Bangladesh
Hasina, who had ruled for 15 years, fled the South Asian country on Monday. Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman announced the formation of a transitional government. He was set to meet student leaders on Tuesday.
At least 109 people were killed on Monday alone, police and doctors reported on Tuesday. This was the deadliest day since the mass protests began in early July. According to AFP figures, at least 409 people have been killed in total.
Initially, protesters were against a quota system for public service jobs that they believed favored Hasina's supporters. Over time, the demand for Hasina's resignation became the movement's goal, with people from all walks of life joining in.
Students want Nobel laureate as transitional leader
A leader of the student protests suggested Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as head of a transitional government. "Internationally recognized" Yunus, "who enjoys wide acceptance, could be chief advisor to an interim government," said Nahid Islam, leader of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD), in a video message on Tuesday.
The 84-year-old Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in the 1980s, which provides microloans to Bangladesh's poorest people and has helped millions out of poverty. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for this work. He was once seen as a potential political rival to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who called him a "vampire."
"We trust Dr. Yunus," said another SAD student leader, Asif Mahmud, on Facebook. Yunus is currently in Europe. A close aide said on Monday that Yunus had not yet received an offer from the military to lead a transitional government.
Hasina, 76, was re-elected in January in a poll boycotted by much of the opposition. Her government has been accused of abusing state institutions to maintain power and suppressing government critics, even to the point of extrajudicial killings. In recent weeks, millions have taken to the streets demanding her resignation.
After the announcement of Parliament's dissolution, Khaleda Zia, the opposition leader and former Prime Minister, was released from prison in Dhaka. The struggle for change in Bangladesh, led by students, gained momentum with bloody protests in Dhaka, resulting in the death of at least 109 people on a single day.
