Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s exit is the end of a decisive political era in Bangladesh’s history. The future is now uncertain, despite the country’s army having engineered her safe exit from Dhaka and initiating moves to have an interim government take charge. The ignominious manner in which Hasina had to flee the country has put Bangladesh at a critical juncture. Amid escalating unrest, an interim government is now set to take charge of the country under the supervision of the military. It remains to be seen if the interim dispensation will be able to stem the situation.
It all began with a movement by students against a quota system for government services which, earlier abolished in 2018, was recently restored by the High Court. The quota system reserved as much as 30 per cent of government jobs for the children and grandchildren of Bangladesh’s 1971 freedom fighters. Overall, 56 per cent of jobs under the quota system went to the descendants of freedom fighters as also to other groups such as women and indigenous communities. Later, the Bangladesh Supreme Court decided to reduce the quota to 5 per cent.
The protests were peaceful, but the mistake committed by the government was to go for a knee-jerk reaction. The authorities, unwilling to acknowledge the rising tide of public dissatisfaction against the government, opted for increasingly harsh measures to quell the protests. The security forces, including the police, the Rapid Action Battalion, and Border Guard Bangladesh were deployed against the protesters. Around 200 people died when the security forces went into action. Caught in a dilemma, Prime Minister Hasina resigned and fled her country.
That was the ultimate in the tragedy, given that the Hasina government in these past 15 years had led Bangladesh to enviable economic prosperity to a point where the country is now poised to graduate from least developed country status to that of a middle-income country in 2026. Her foreign policy was a fine balance by maintaining close ties with India and correct relations with China, Russia, and the European countries. At home, she initiated constitutional moves that paved the way for the trial of her father’s assassins and the collaborators of the 1971 Pakistan occupation army.
The events in Bangladesh are an embarrassing reminder of Sri Lanka when its leadership was forced from office by public protests a few years ago. The leadership in Bangladesh should ensure that the principles of secular democracy which underpinned the War of Liberation – principles which were undermined by successive military and quasi-military regimes after August 1975 – are maintained and that the country is not pushed back into communal darkness. The rapid spread of violence against minority Hindus is a matter of concern. The international community cannot remain passive.
