Amid violence in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country on Monday after resigning from the post. Currently he is in India. Sheikh Hasina’s resignation from the post of PM was announced by Bangladesh Army Chief General Waqar uz Zaman. He also told that soon an interim government will be formed in the country. Zaman has come into limelight after his address on TV.
Bangladesh Army Chief, in his televised address on Monday, appealed to the violent mob to maintain peace in the country and said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned from her post. An interim government will soon be formed in the country. This decision has been taken after discussion with all political parties. However, he did not clarify whether the army would have any role in the interim government to be formed in the country or not. But he said, now we will go to the President of the country and discuss about the formation of an interim government in the country.
Who is Waqar-uz-Zaman?
Waqar-uz-Zaman took charge as the Army Chief of Bangladesh for three years, one and a half month ago on June 23. Before assuming the charge of Army Chief, he worked on the post of General Staff for more than six months. During this period, he has also overseen military operations and intelligence, Bangladesh’s role in UN peacekeeping operations and the budget. Apart from this he has also handled other roles.
According to the Bangladesh Army website, Zaman holds a Master’s degree in Defense Studies from the National University of Bangladesh and a Master of Arts degree in Defense Studies from King’s College, London. In a career spanning three and a half decades, he has also worked closely with Hasina, who served as Chief Staff Officer in the Armed Forces Division under the Prime Minister’s Office. Besides, he has also been associated with the modernization of the army.
At the same time, when protests against the government started in Bangladesh, Zaman had instructed the army personnel to ensure the security of people’s lives, property and important state establishments.
Also read: Bangladesh: ISKCON temple burnt, Hindus thrown out of their homes and beaten, shops looted… Minorities targeted in 27 districts amid violence
Zaman will meet the protesters today
According to media reports, Bangladesh Army Chief will meet the leaders of the agitating students on Tuesday at 12 noon. Because the students say that they want a new interim government in the country, whose chief advisor should be Mohammad Yunus.
Prominent leader of the student movement, Nahid Islam, said in a video on Facebook along with three other colleagues that no government other than the one we have recommended will be accepted. We will not accept any government supported by the army or led by the army. Islam said that we have also discussed with Mohammad Yunus and he has agreed to take this responsibility on our invitation.
Also read: ‘Bangladesh is going to prove to be the next Pakistan’, Exclusive interview of Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wajed
‘Khalida Zia is in the hospital’
At the same time, after violence throughout the day on Monday, President Shahabuddin, while addressing the nation on TV late in the evening, said that the interim government will hold elections soon after consulting all parties and well-wishers.
He also said a “unanimous decision” was taken to immediately release Begum Khaleda Zia, president of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Hasina’s rival, who was convicted in a corruption case in 2018. But after a year, when his health deteriorated, he was taken to the hospital. He has denied the allegations against him.
A BNP spokesperson said on Monday that 78-year-old Zia was in hospital and “she will be legally acquitted of all charges and will be out soon.”
Violent mob is targeting minorities
Bangladesh’s leading newspaper Daily Star has said in its report that Hindus are being attacked in the country. Hindu houses and business establishments were attacked by mobs in at least 27 districts yesterday, while their valuables were also looted. The miscreants vandalized and looted the house of Pradeep Chandra Roy, Secretary of Puja Udjapan Parishad, in Telipara village of Lalmonirhat. They also vandalized and looted a computer shop of Muhin Roy, municipal member of the district’s Puja Udjapan Parishad, on Thana Road. Apart from this, houses of four Hindu families were vandalized and looted in Chandrapur village of Kaliganj upazila of the district.
Controversy started against quota system
The protests, which began late last month following a High Court order against the quota system, escalated dramatically when agitating students at Dhaka University, the country’s largest, clashed violently with police and pro-government protesters. The roots of these protests lie in the controversial quota system that reserves up to 30 percent of government jobs for family members of freedom fighters who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan. However, amid the movement, the Supreme Court in a historic decision abolished this quota system and made 93 percent of the recruitments based on merit and limited the scope of reservation to only 7 percent.