Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Tuesday dissolved the parliament, a key demand of the protestors, following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
“China is closely following the developments in Bangladesh. As a friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic cooperative partner of Bangladesh, China sincerely hopes that social stability will be restored soon in the country,” according to remarks by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday.
Global observers are closely monitoring the development of the unrest in the South Asian country with a focus on whether the disturbance can be ended by an interim government and elections, and how the incident will influence regional situation.
The coordinators of Bangladesh’s student protest movement were scheduled to meet with the army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman on Tuesday after the military announced plans to form an interim government, the Guardian reported.
Hasina, 76, resigned and left the country on Monday. She landed at a military airfield Hindon near Delhi, Reuters cited two Indian government officials as saying. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Hasina there.
Students in Bangladesh started demonstration in early July against a quota system which reserves some government jobs for families of veterans of the country’s 1971 war of independence. The Supreme Court rescinded the job quota policy on July 21. But the protests continued as students and other citizens assembled and called for justice for those killed in the protests and demanded Hasina to step down, BBC reported.
In Dhaka on Monday, police and other government buildings were attacked and set on fire. Protesters attempted to tear down a statue of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father, BBC said.
Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence during the protest.
The protests began with strong economic reasons rather than solely political motives, Liu Zongyi, director of the Center for South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely populated countries – around 170 million in an area of more than 148,000 square kilometers – and has a significant number of young people in need of employment, Liu said.
“Inflation and economic problems may have intensified the unrest. But after the job quota policy was rescinded, the situation did not settle down but evolved into a political movement,” said Liu.
Given the US and some Western countries’ long-term criticism of Hasina’s tough stance toward the US, there are speculations about potential Western involvement in the Bangladesh movement, experts said.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, said the unrest in Bangladesh also underscored the challenges many developing countries face.
After Hasina’s resignation on Monday, the military chief, Zaman, announced in a televised address to the nation that he was temporarily taking control of the country, with soldiers attempting to stem the growing unrest. Zaman had also held talks with leaders of major political parties, excluding Hasina’s long-ruling Awami League, to discuss the way forward, the Guardian reported.
With Hasina reportedly going to India, it is possible that the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) may come to power to form a new government. However, the road ahead is challenging, given the domestic issues related to employment and economic development, Lin Minwang, deputy director at the Center for South Asian Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
President Shahabuddin on Monday ordered the release of Begum Khaleda Zia, BNP’s chairperson, who was convicted in a graft case in 2018 but was moved to a hospital a year later as her health deteriorated. Zia has denied the charges against her, according to media reports.
Analysts said the stability of Bangladesh hinges on upcoming political negotiations. If the military and the opposition reach a consensus, social order may be quickly restored; otherwise, the situation could remain turbulent.
Global reaction
The month-long protests in Bangladesh have caught world attention. On Monday, the White House and the US State Department separately urged parties in Bangladesh to refrain from violence and restore peace at the earliest. The EU also called for an “orderly and peaceful” transition, according to media reports.
On Tuesday, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told an all-party meeting that India has assured help to Hasina and given her time to decide the future course of action, newswire PTI reported quoting sources.
Hasina’s resignation could affect India’s diplomacy with Bangladesh due to New Delhi’s close ties with Hasina and her family, experts said. However, some analysts believe India may exercise restraint to avoid escalating anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh and it may not immediately offer asylum to Hasina.
Indian broadcaster Times Now cited sources as saying that Hasina would leave for London.
No matter how the situation in Bangladesh further develops, the country has the demand to tackle its social and economic problems. Therefore, maintaining good relations with China, a country having the capacity without intention to interfere its internal affairs, is crucial for Bangladesh, Liu said.
GT
