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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for new elections to replace the longtime prime minister who resigned and fled the country after weeks of demonstrations against his rule turned violent.
President Mohammad Shahabuddin also ordered the release from house arrest of opposition leader Khaleda Zia, a longtime rival of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who was convicted of corruption by Hasina’s government in 2018.
On Tuesday, some senior military posts were reshuffled as protesting students said they would not allow any government backed by the military.
The streets of the capital Dhaka appeared calmer on Tuesday, with no new violence reported, as jubilant protesters streamed into the residence of the ousted leader. Some posed for pictures with soldiers guarding the building, a day after angry protesters looted furniture, paintings, flower pots and chickens.
Dhaka’s main airport resumed operations after an eight-hour suspension.
The Bangladesh Police Association said it had decided to launch a nationwide strike due to concerns about the security situation after several police stations were attacked on Monday, killing “many” police officers (but did not disclose the death toll).
The association said it would not return to work unless the officers’ safety was guaranteed and apologized for the violent police attacks on protesting students, saying officers were “forced to shoot” and were portrayed as “villains.”
As the country awaits a new government, a key student leader said protesters want Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to lead an interim government. Yunus, who is in Paris for the Olympics, called Hasina’s resignation a “second liberation day” for the country. He could not be immediately reached for comment, but Naheed Islam, the main organizer of the protests, said Yunus had agreed.
Islam said the protesters would nominate more candidates for the cabinet, adding that it would be difficult for those in power to ignore their wishes.
Hasina fled to India by helicopter on Monday as protesters marched toward the capital in defiance of a military curfew order, with thousands of demonstrators eventually storming her official residence and other buildings associated with her party and family.
The protests, which critics say favour people with ties to political parties, have grown into a broader challenge to Putin’s 15-year rule, which has been marked by human rights abuses, rampant corruption, rigged elections and a brutal crackdown on the opposition.
A bloody crackdown on demonstrations sparked clashes that left dozens dead and further fueled the movement.
Military chief Gen. Wakur Uzizaman said he would take temporary control of the country after Hasina’s resignation, and he and the country’s figurehead president pledged to soon form an interim government to preside over new elections.
But the chaos left behind by Hasina’s ouster has created a power vacuum and it is unclear what it means for the South Asian country, which has a history of military rule and chaotic politics that has pushed it into numerous crises in the past.
The military wields significant political influence in Bangladesh, which has experienced more than 20 coups or attempted coups since independence from Pakistan in 1971.
It was not clear whether Hasina’s resignation or the army chief’s call for calm would be enough to end the unrest, or whether the military would play any role in an interim government or try to influence it from the outside. Student protesters have warned they will not allow any military-backed government.
Zaman said the military would investigate all killings and punish those responsible, meeting protesters’ demands for weeks.
Earlier on Tuesday, protest leader Sarjis Alam told reporters that they had asked the president to dissolve parliament by 3 pm, threatening that otherwise they would hold another demonstration to “fix the country”.
“We have taken the consent of Muhammad Yunus and put forward his name. Now if anyone else appears among the MPs, we will not allow it to happen,” he said.
Yunus, a longtime opponent of the ousted leader, was accused of corruption by her government and put on trial for revenge motives. He won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for pioneering microcredit.
At the celebration, student Jualiya Karim said it was a historic day. “Today we got what we deserved,” she said. “Everyone is happy, everyone is joyful.”
But the country is still counting the toll from weeks of violence that caused the worst bloodshed since the 1971 war of independence. Many fear Hasina’s departure could lead to more instability in the densely populated country, which already struggles with high unemployment, corruption and climate change.
According to media reports that could not be independently confirmed, the violence surrounding Hasina’s resignation left at least 109 people dead, including 14 police officers, and hundreds injured.
A jail in the southwestern Satkhira district was attacked on Monday night and 596 prisoners and detainees escaped from the jail, while police stations and security officials were attacked across the country, Bangladesh’s United News Agency reported.
Fearing that several police stations had been burned or damaged, many police officers in Dhaka gathered at the Central Army Camp, fearing they would be attacked.
There is growing concern among the country’s Hindu minority, which has been targeted in the past during political unrest and has long been seen as a supporter of Hasina, that they could be attacked again. Local reports of violence against Hindu leaders and other minority groups have not been confirmed.
“Hindus are very scared,” Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari, leader of the Bengal branch of the Hindutva movement, told the Indian news agency. “Hindus are very scared that they can be attacked at any time. This is because whenever a government falls, minorities are affected.”
Charles Wheatley, the EU ambassador to Bangladesh, said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that European diplomats were “very concerned” about reports of anti-minority violence.
Opposition politicians have publicly called on people not to attack minorities, while student leaders have asked supporters to guard Hindu temples and other places of worship.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday called for restraint, saying it was a “transitional moment on the road to democracy.”
“The revolutionary spirit to overthrow the illegal and authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina will be destroyed if people decide to take the law into their own hands without due process,” the party’s acting president Tarique Rahman wrote on social media platform X.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement on Monday that Bangladesh’s transition of power must be “consistent with the country’s international obligations” and “inclusive and open to the meaningful participation of all Bangladeshi people.”
The students said they wanted to revitalize the country.
“I think the next leaders of the country should learn from students that if anyone becomes corrupt, a traitor or takes any action against the country, they will all face the same fate,” said Mohammad Jahirul Islam, a student in Dhaka.
Hasina, 76, won a fourth straight term in January elections boycotted by her main rivals. Thousands of opposition members were arrested ahead of the vote, and the United States and Britain denounced the results as untrustworthy, even as the government defended them.
Hasina landed at a military airport near New Delhi after leaving Dhaka on Monday and met with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, according to The Indian Express, which said Hasina was taken to a safe house and planned to travel to the UK.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed she was in India but did not indicate whether she intended to stay.
He told parliament that Hasina had “requested permission to go to India within a very short time”.
The United States on Tuesday issued a new travel warning for Bangladesh, asking its citizens not to travel to the country “due to civil unrest, crime and terrorism.”
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