One year after a bloody uprising, Bangladesh is far from political stability
In that moment, Tarif knew something bad had happened. He rushed home, dodging the exchange of fire between security forces and protesters on the streets of Dhaka. When he finally arrived, he discovered his parents tending to his bleeding sister.
A stray bullet had hit Meherunnesa's chest while she was standing beside the window of her room, Tarif said. She was taken to a hospital where doctors declared her dead.
Meherunnesa, 23, was killed on Aug. 5 last year, the same day Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country in a massive student-led uprising, which ended her 15-year rule. For much of Bangladesh, Hasina's ouster was a moment of joy. Three days later, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over the country as head of an interim government, promising to restore order and hold a new election after necessary reforms.
A year on, Bangladesh is still reeling from that violence, and Hasina now faces trial for crimes against humanity, in absentia as she is in exile in India. But despite the bloodshed and lives lost, many say the prospect for a better Bangladesh with a liberal democracy, political tolerance and religious and communal harmony has remained a challenge.
'The hope of the thousands who braved lethal violence a year ago when they opposed Sheikh Hasina's abusive rule to build a rights-respecting democracy remains unfulfilled,' said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based human rights group.
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Business Standard
18 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Year after uprising, Bangladesh struggles to find political stability
Abdur Rahman Tarif was talking to his sister Meherunnesa over the phone when the voice on the other end of the call suddenly fell silent. In that moment, Tarif knew something bad had happened. He rushed home, dodging the exchange of fire between security forces and protesters on the streets of Dhaka. When he finally arrived, he discovered his parents tending to his bleeding sister. A stray bullet had hit Meherunnesa's chest while she was standing beside the window of her room, Tarif said. She was taken to a hospital where doctors declared her dead. Meherunnesa, 23, was killed on Aug 5 last year, the same day Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country in a massive student-led uprising, which ended her 15-year rule. For much of Bangladesh, Hasina's ouster was a moment of joy. Three days later, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over the country as head of an interim government, promising to restore order and hold a new election after necessary reforms. A year on, Bangladesh is still reeling from that violence, and Hasina now faces trial for crimes against humanity, in absentia as she is in exile in India. But despite the bloodshed and lives lost, many say the prospect for a better Bangladesh with a liberal democracy, political tolerance and religious and communal harmony has remained a challenge. The hope of the thousands who braved lethal violence a year ago when they opposed Sheikh Hasina's abusive rule to build a rights-respecting democracy remains unfulfilled, said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based human rights group. Stalled change Bangladesh's anti-government movement exacted a heavy price. Hundreds of people, mostly students, were killed in violent protests. Angry demonstrators torched police stations and government buildings. Political opponents often clashed with each other, sometimes leading to gruesome killings. Like many Bangladeshis, Tarif and his sister took part in the uprising, hoping for a broader political change, particularly after when one of their cousins was shot and killed by security forces. "We could not stay home and wanted Sheikh Hasina to go, 20-year-old Tarif said. Ultimately we wanted a country without any discrimination and injustice. Today, his hopes lie shattered. We wanted a change, but I am frustrated now, he said. After taking the reins, the Yunus-led administration formed 11 reform commissions, including a national consensus commission that is working with major political parties for future governments and the electoral process. Bickering political parties have failed to reach a consensus on a timetable and process for elections. Mob violence, political attacks on rival parties and groups, and hostility to women's rights and vulnerable minority groups by religious hardliners have all surged. Some of the fear and repression that marked Hasina's rule, and abuses such as widespread enforced disappearances, appear to have ended, rights groups say. However, they accuse the new government of using arbitrary detention to target perceived political opponents, especially Hasina's supporters, many of whom have been forced to go into hiding. Hasina's Awami League party, which remains banned, says more than two dozen of its supporters have died in custody over the last one year. Human Rights Watch in a statement on July 30 said the interim government is falling short in implementing its challenging human rights agenda. It said violations against ethnic and other minority groups in some parts of Bangladesh have continued. The interim government appears stuck, juggling an unreformed security sector, sometimes violent religious hardliners, and political groups that seem more focused on extracting vengeance on Hasina's supporters than protecting Bangladeshis' rights, said Ganguly. Yunus' office routinely rejects these allegations. Growing political uncertainty Bangladesh also faces political uncertainty over a return to democratically held elections. Yunus has been at loggerheads with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, now the main contender for power. The party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has demanded elections either in December or February next year. Yunus has said they could be held in April. The interim government has also cleared the way for the Islamists, who were under severe pressure during Hasina's regime, to rise, while the student leaders who spearheaded the uprising have formed a new political party. The students' party demands that the constitution be rewritten, if needed entirely, and says it won't allow the election without major reforms. Meanwhile, many hardline Islamists have either fled prison or have been released, and the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party, which has a controversial past, is now aspiring to a role in government. It often bitterly criticizes the BNP, equating it with Hasina's Awami League, and recently held a massive rally in Dhaka as a show of power. Critics fear that greater influence of the Islamist forces could fragment Bangladesh's political landscape further. Any rise of Islamists demonstrates a future Bangladesh where radicalization could get a shape where so-called disciplined Islamist forces could work as a catalyst against liberal and moderate forces, political analyst Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah said. Worries also remain over whether the government is ultimately capable of enacting reforms. People's expectation was (that) Yunus government will be focused and solely geared towards reforming the electoral process. But now it's a missed opportunity for them, Kalimullah said. A frustrated population For some, not much has changed in the last year. Meherunnesa's father, Mosharraf Hossain, said the uprising was not for a mere change in government, but symbolized deeper frustrations. We want a new Bangladesh It's been 54 years since independence, yet freedom was not achieved, he said. Tarif echoed his father's remarks, adding that he was not happy with the current state of the country. I want to see the new Bangladesh as a place where I feel secure, where the law enforcement agencies will perform their duties properly, and no government will resort to enforced disappearances or killings like before. I want to have the right to speak freely, he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
News18
an hour ago
- News18
Sheikh Hasina's Ganabhaban Palace To Be Turned Into Bangladesh Revolution Museum News18
Former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina's official residence - the Ganabhaban palace - is all set to be converted into a museum. This decision comes as Bangladesh marks one year since the ouster of the Awami League leader after the July student uprising. News18 Mobile App -
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Sheikh Hasina completes a year in exile in India as Bangladesh plans election in 2026
A year after then Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka and arrived in India, she remains in regular contact with Awami League party leaders in Bangladesh and in exile around the world. Her exact whereabouts in the present and political future, however, remain a mystery, as New Delhi has discouraged her and her supporters from overt political activity. On July 23 this year, at least five Awami League ministers due to hold a press conference at Delhi's Press Club, put off their public appearance, ostensibly after India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) intervened. The Indian government has provided Ms. Hasina a well-guarded home in central Delhi. Her daughter Saima Wazed, who was the Regional Director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) South-East Asia Region until she was asked to proceed on indefinite leave due to court cases in Bangladesh last month, also lives in Delhi. On all questions from journalists, the MEA has declined to give details. '[Ms. Hasina] had come here at a short notice for safety reasons, as she continues to be,' spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in October 2024, a statement he maintains. Ms. Hasina now faces a number of charges over corruption, human rights violations and even war crimes during her tenure, making her return to Dhaka unlikely at present. Meanwhile, after saying he would not stop the Awami League from standing for elections expected to be held in mid-February 2026, Bangladesh interim government's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has banned the erstwhile ruling party and its students' wing, making it impossible for them to participate. Recorded messages In the past year, Ms. Hasina has sent out a number of recorded audio messages for her supporters, and, on one occasion, addressed a live 'rally' for supporters in Dhaka. The rally ended in extreme violence, as student groups now in power in the country attacked her family home and her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's memorial museum at Dhanmondi, burning most of the interiors down. 'Demolishing a building can only destroy a structure but couldn't erase the history,' Ms. Hasina said in her address on February 5. But since then, Ms. Hasina's political speeches have been more muted, as the Modi government began to increase its engagement with the Yunus administration, and after a demarche from Dhaka reportedly requested her to tone down activities. 'Comments attributed to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been made in her individual capacity in which India has no role to play. Conflating this with the Government of India's position is not going to help add positivity to bilateral relations,' the MEA said in a statement a few days later. Even so, Ms. Hasina's stay in India will continue to be a sore point between Dhaka and Delhi, one year after her dramatic flight here. On August 5, 2024, as police in Dhaka failed to stop massive protests, led by student leaders onto the main roads leading to her home, Ganabhaban, Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman is believed to have told Ms. Hasina that there was no safe option left but to escape by helicopter to the airbase in Dhaka, after which she was escorted onto a Bangladesh Air Force C-130 Hercules flight. The flight landed that afternoon at the Hindon airbase on the outskirts of Delhi, for a stop that was meant to be temporary. Sources said Ms. Hasina had already applied to the United Kingdom for asylum, something the U.K. had in the past granted to other leaders from Bangladesh and Pakistan who had fled there. However, the same evening, after hours of delay, the U.K.'s newly elected Labour government headed by Prime Minster Keir Starmer — who was already on the back foot over major anti-immigrant violence — decided to turn down her request. Sore point After National Security Adviser Ajit Doval drove into Hindon airbase to discuss the matter, the C-130 was sent back to Dhaka, and Ms. Hasina was invited to stay in Delhi. The decision mirrored that of the Indira Gandhi government in 1975, that gave Ms. Hasina and her sister refuge after the brutal assassination of their father, mother and most of their family members. Ms. Hasina eventually returned to Dhaka in 1981, and continued her father's political struggle, eventually being elected to power in 1996, and four times again from 2009-2024. However, another return to her country, active politics, or power appear a distant dream at present.
