Episode: KPN 05-08-2024

Bangladesh prime minister resigns, flees to India

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned Monday and fled to India, ending her 15-year rule amid weeks of deadly protests against a quota system for government jobs.

Hasina abandoned her official residence in Dhaka, the capital, boarded a military helicopter with her sister, and flew across the border to India the day after nearly 100 people were killed in clashes with authorities. Her ultimate destination was not immediately clear.

Bangladesh’s army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, speaking on state television, told the predominantly Muslim South Asian nation of 170 million people that Hasina, 76, had resigned and that the military would form an interim government.

General Waker-uz-Zaman, dressed in military fatigues, said, “The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence. I hope after my speech, the situation will improve.”

The army chief said he had held talks with the main opposition parties and civil society members but not Hasina’s Awami League. He said the military would investigate the crackdown on student-led protests that has fueled outrage against the government and left at least 300 dead since early July.

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