Amid violence in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country on Monday after resigning from her post. She is currently in India. Sheikh Hasina’s resignation from the post of PM was announced by Bangladesh Army Chief General Waqar Uz Zaman. He also said that an interim government will be formed in the country soon. Zaman has come into the limelight after his address on TV.
In his address on TV on Monday, the Bangladesh Army Chief 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 discussions with all the political parties. However, he did not clarify whether the army will 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?
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Waqar-uz-Zaman took over as the Chief of the Bangladesh Army for three years on 23 June, one and a half months ago. Before taking over as the Army Chief, he worked as the Chief of General Staff for more than six months. During this time, he also oversaw military operations and intelligence, Bangladesh’s role in United Nations peacekeeping missions 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 Defence Studies from the National University of Bangladesh and a Master of Arts degree in Defence Studies from King’s College, London. In a career spanning three and a half decades, he has also worked closely with Hasina as the Principal Staff Officer in the Armed Forces Division under the Prime Minister’s Office. He has also been involved in the modernisation of the army.
At the same time, when protests started against the government in Bangladesh, Zaman had instructed the army personnel to ensure the safety of people’s lives, property and important state establishments.
Zaman will meet the protesters today
According to media reports, the Bangladesh Army Chief will meet the agitating student leaders on Tuesday at 12 noon. Because the students say that they want a new interim government in the country, whose chief advisor will be Mohammad Yunus.
Nahid Islam, a prominent leader of the student movement, said in a video on Facebook with his 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.
‘Khaleda Zia is in the hospital’
At the same time, after the whole day of violence on Monday, President Shahabuddin addressed the nation on TV late in the evening and said that the interim government will soon hold elections after consultation with all the parties and well-wishers.
He also said it was “unanimous decision” to immediately release Begum Khaleda Zia, the president of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Hasina’s rival, who was convicted in a corruption case in 2018 but was taken to hospital a year later after her health deteriorated. She has denied the charges against her.
A BNP spokesman said on Monday that 78-year-old Zia was in hospital and “will be legally acquitted of all charges and will come out soon.”
Violent mob is targeting minorities
Bangladesh’s leading newspaper Daily Star has reported that Hindus are being attacked in the country. Yesterday, Hindu houses and business establishments were attacked by mobs in at least 27 districts, while their valuables were also looted. The miscreants vandalized and looted the house of Pradip Chandra Roy, secretary of Puja Udjapan Parishad in Telipara village of Lalmonirhat. They also vandalized and looted a computer shop of Muhin Roy, a municipal member of the district’s Puja Udjapan Parishad, on Thana Road. Apart from this, the houses of four Hindu families were vandalized and looted in Chandrapur village of Kaliganj Upazila of the district.
Controversy started against the quota system
The protests, which began late last month after a high court order against the quota system, escalated dramatically when agitating students at the country’s largest Dhaka University clashed violently with police and pro-government protesters. The protests are rooted in the controversial quota system that reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for family members of freedom fighters who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan. However, amid the agitation, the Supreme Court in a historic decision abolished this quota system and made 93 per cent recruitments on the basis of merit and limited the scope of reservation to just 7 per cent.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)