Bangladesh PM Hasina Resigns, Interim Government to Run Country
People protesting in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. Aug. 5, 2024. Photo: X/ @AJEnglish
August 5, 2024 Hour: 7:57 am
She took office for her fourth straight five-year term as the country’s prime minister in January.
An interim government will be set up to run Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned Monday amid protests in the South Asian country.
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Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman Zaman made the remarks in a broadcast to the nation on state television on Monday afternoon. He said Hasina has resigned, which confirmed media reports earlier about Hasina’s step-down.
“We will form an interim government,” the Army chief siad, adding that there will be no need to impose a state of emergency if the situation gets better.
Hasina, 76, took office for her fourth straight five-year term as the country’s prime minister in January this year after her ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.
The unrest in Bangladesh began as student protests in early July, following a court ruling ordering the government to reinstate the 30 percent quota for public job vacancies reserved for descendants of fighters from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
The protests escalated on July 15 and the first deaths were reported the following day, after which the Hasina administration cut off communications and internet services across the country and imposed a curfew.
By the end of July, police and firefighters had confirmed the deaths of at least 194 people during the clashes, although the Student Movement Against Discrimination said the figure was 266.
teleSUR/ JF Source: Xinhua – EFE
