By Political Reporter- By Political Reporter
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has fled the country and subsequently resigned following weeks of deadly demonstrations against her government.
Hasina’s resignation on Monday, after 15 years in power, came in the wake of violent protests that claimed nearly 300 lives.
Her departure appears to have averted further bloodshed in the Asian nation.
In a national address, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that an interim government would now take over and called for calm.
Hasina’s aide told international news outlets that she boarded a military helicopter on Monday as massive crowds defied a national curfew to storm her palace in Dhaka.
She landed at Hindon Air Base near New Delhi aboard a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft.
Her resignation followed a night of deadly violence on Sunday that resulted in nearly 100 fatalities and led to the imposition of a curfew.
Reports indicated that huge crowds stormed the prime minister’s palace, preventing Hasina from delivering a scheduled speech.
At least 20 more people were killed during the violence in Dhaka as protesters stormed buildings.
By early afternoon, the mood on the streets had shifted to one of celebration as news of Hasina’s departure spread.
Bangladesh experienced many years of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s following its war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
General Waker-Uz-Zaman sought to reassure the nation, urging citizens to trust the army.
“We will ensure that justice is served for every death and crime that occurred during the protests,” he said. “We have invited representatives from all major political parties, and they have accepted our invitation and committed to collaborating with us.”
The protests in Bangladesh began a month ago over a controversial government job quota scheme.
The government responded by shutting down universities and deploying police and military forces to crack down on protesters.
Hasina imposed a nationwide curfew and cut off access to phones and the internet, but the protests persisted.
The country’s top court ruled that the highly contested quotas should be reduced from 30 percent to 5 percent, with 3 percent reserved for relatives of veterans, but the protests continued unabated.
Source: Online