The fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government has triggered both jubilation and acts of vandalism.
Days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as Bangladesh Prime Minister, the country’s Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan also agreed to vacate his post “in principle”. The decision came after the protestors gathered outside the court in the capital Dhaka and demanded the resignation of Hassan and the justices of the Appellate Division.
Mr Hassan, appointed last year, was considered loyal to ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country on Monday and has since been sheltering in New Delhi.
Mr Hassan will be tendering his resignation after consulting President Mohammed Shahabuddin this evening, Dhaka Tribune reported, adding that Army personnel were stationed in the main and annexe building as well as other areas around the Supreme Court as they urged hundreds of protesters gathered there to maintain peace.
Obaidul Hassan earlier oversaw the much-criticised war crimes tribunal, which ordered the execution of Sheikh Hasina’s opponents. His brother was her longtime secretary.
More than 450 people have been killed so far in the student-led protests that started in July against quotas in government jobs before they also started calling for Hasina’s resignation.
Post Hasina’s sudden resignation, some of the top appointees, including the central bank governor and the national police chief, were forced out of office, AFP reported.
Appeal for unity
Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Saturday called for religious unity as he embraced the weeping mother of student protestor Abu Sayed. The 25-year-old was among the first ones to be killed in police firing on July 16 during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
“Our responsibility is to build a new Bangladesh,” said Yunus, who returned from Europe this week.
The caretaker administration in the country has stated that restoration of law and order is its “priority”.
Meanwhile, the police union declared a strike a few days ago, saying its personnel would not return to work until their safety was assured. As per reports, more than half of the country’s police stations were reopened by Saturday.
Attack on minorities
The fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government has triggered both jubilation and acts of vandalism in Bangladesh. Protestors earlier ransacked her official residence in Dhaka, while the statues of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were defaced and brought down.
Multiple reports and TV footage have shown vandalism, looting and attacks on the minorities and their place of worship, Reuters reported.
Hindus constitute about 8% of the Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which has a total population of nearly 170 million people. They have largely supported Hasina’s Awami League party in polls.
On Friday, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council wrote to Yunus asking him to protect the minorities, claiming their homes, businesses and temples were being targeted.
Hundreds of Hindus held a protest march on Friday and shouted slogans demanding peace.
How protests started
Nationwide protests in the South Asian country started after the High Court reinstated a quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for the family members of freedom fighters and veterans from Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence.
However, this order was later suspended by the Supreme Court. The quota system was scrapped by Sheikh Hasina’s government in 2018 following similar student-led protests.
Protestors’ demand
The protestors demanded the government scrap the quota system, claiming that it was majorly benefitting only the Awami League.
What is Bangladesh’s quota system?
Introduced in 1972, the quota system in the country has since undergone several changes. Before being abolished in 2018, the system back then reserved 56 per cent of seats in government jobs for various groups. However, the majority of these quotas were benefitting the freedom fighters’ families.
