Bangladesh Parliament dissolved, Hasina faces UK refuge hitch

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 6

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for an interim government and fresh elections even as former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may be in India for a few more days following the UK’s hesitation to provide her refuge.

Hindu homes, temples targeted

• Nearly 300 Hindu homes and businesses vandalised and 20 Hindu temples damaged since former PM Sheikh Hasina’s ouster on Monday, a community association said
• The Hindu community constitutes 8 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 mn population and has historically supported Hasina’s Awami League party, which identifies itself as largely secular

leader’s hotel torched; 24 dead

Dhaka: At least 24 persons were burnt alive by a mob at a starred hotel owned by a leader of Awami League party after PM Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, sources said on Tuesday. The victims, mostly boarders, were burnt alive as the mob set afire Zabir International Hotel owned by district Awami League general secretary Shahin Chakkladar in Joshor district. PTI

The President also freed from house arrest Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, a former Prime Minister and Hasina’s arch-rival. Khaleda (79) is the wife of Lt Gen Ziaur Rehman, the army chief of Bangladesh when Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was assassinated in 1975.

As the army took charge on Monday and the death toll in the violence in which temples were also attacked rose to 440, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM), an outfit that spearheaded the massive protests, said 84-year-old Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus was appointed the head of the interim government. Student protesters had threatened more demonstrations if Parliament was not dissolved.

A number of Hindu temples, households and businesses were vandalised, women assaulted and at least two Hindu leaders affiliated with the Hasina-headed Awami League were killed in the violence after she fled the country.

News agency PTI said the decision to dissolve Parliament was taken following the President’s discussions with the three armed forces chiefs, leaders of different political parties, representatives of civil society and leaders of the ADSM.

In a video posted on social media early Tuesday, ADSM’s key coordinator Nahid Islam proposed the Nobel laureate as the head of the interim government. He said they had already spoken with Yunus, and that he had agreed to take the responsibility. “No government other than the one proposed by the students will be accepted. As we have said, no military government or one backed by the military or a government of fascists will be accepted,” said Nahid, flanked by two other coordinators.

Currently abroad, Yunus welcomed Hasina’s ouster, describing the development as the “second liberation” of the country. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his anti-poverty campaign through the Grameen Bank, a mode replicated across continents.

The death toll in the anti-government protests climbed to 440 today, with 100 more deaths reported after Hasina’s departure. The former PM’s plan to travel to London hit a roadblock over some “uncertainties” and she is likely to stay in India for the next couple of days.

Hasina, who landed at the Hindon airbase on Monday in a C-130J military transport aircraft hours after resigning as the Prime Minister, has been shifted to an unspecified location under tight security. The 76-year-old former PM has her family members in Finland and also the UK.

Hasina, accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana, planned to leave for London from India to take temporary refuge but the option is not being pursued now. This is after the UK government indicated that she may not get legal protection against any possible probe into the massive violent protests in her country, they said. Hasina is now known to be considering several options, including the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Finland, said a source.

Under the UK’s immigration rules, it is not possible to apply for asylum from outside the UK and each asylum claim is carefully considered on its individual merits on a case-by-case basis. The movement that toppled Hasina rose out of demonstrations against public sector job quotas for families of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war, seen by critics as a means to reserve jobs for allies of the ruling Awami League.

With army and police personnel patrolling the streets, the situation in Dhaka was largely calm after a day of unrest and a night of tension, local media reported. Buses and other public transport were on the streets and traders were opening shops. Government vehicles were heading to offices, it added.