Bangladesh protests: Amid the turmoil in Bangladesh, President Mohammed Shahabuddin has ordered the release of Khaleda Zia, the jailed former Prime Minister and opposition leader, hours after her rival Sheikh Hasina was ousted and the military took power. Hasina, 76, resigned and left the country earlier in the day amid mass protests against her government.
Khaleda Zia, the leader of the BNP and a key opponent of former Prime Minister Hasina, is 78 years old and in poor health. She has been confined to a hospital after being sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018 on corruption charges. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader had served as Bangladesh's Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006.
In a press statement, it was announced that President Mohammed Shahabuddin "decided to release Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately." The decision was made during a meeting with opposition party members.
Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, along with the heads of the navy and air force, as well as top leaders from various opposition parties including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, attended the meeting where the decision to release Khaleda Zia was made. "The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests," the statement added.
All offices, educational institutions will be open from Tuesday
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's military announced that it would lift the curfew imposed to suppress protests at dawn on Tuesday, just hours after seizing power following the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "Offices, factories, schools, colleges... will be open" from 6:00 am Tuesday (0000 GMT), the military said in a statement.
Hasina will not make a political comeback
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of Sheikh Hasina and a former official adviser, stated on Monday that the former PM will not make a political comeback. He added that she left the country for her own safety due to her family's insistence. In an interview to Newshour on the BBC World Service, Joy said there would be no political comeback for his mother.
Joy revealed that Sheikh Hasina had been contemplating resignation since Sunday and left the country for her safety upon her family's insistence. Joy expressed that his mother, who had led Bangladesh for 15 years, was deeply disappointed that, despite her efforts, a minority had risen against her.
Expressing Hasina's disappointment, he said, “She has turned Bangladesh around. When she took over power, it was considered a failing state. It was a poor country. Until today it was considered one of the rising tigers of Asia. She's very disappointed.”
The violent clashes between protesters calling for Sheikh Hasina's resignation and supporters of the ruling Awami League erupted on Sunday. These tensions followed a recent surge in violence, with over 200 people killed in confrontations between police and predominantly student protesters. In the past two weeks alone, at least 300 individuals have lost their lives.
The demonstrators are demanding the abolition of a contentious quota system that reserves 30% of government jobs for the relatives of veterans from Bangladesh's 1971 War of Independence.
