Bangladesh Protests: Sheikh Hasina Resigns, Interim Government Formation Expected Today

Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, along with the head of the navy and airforce, and top leaders of several opposition parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami party, attended the meeting. Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman is scheduled to meet student protest leaders as the country awaits the formation of a new government.

“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” said General Waker. Sheikh Hasina – the daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – was given a 45-minute ultimatum to step down as the Prime Minister.

The 76-year-old is accompanied by her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana. Sheikh Hasina met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in the evening after landing at the Hindon Air Force base in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad – around 30 km from Delhi.

She is expected to leave for London later, sources told NDTV, where she is seeking political asylum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been briefed on the situation in Bangladesh by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

There is no word yet if Mr Modi will meet Mrs Hasina. Western powers called for calm in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina fled.

The United States called on all sides to “refrain from further violence”, while the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “peaceful, orderly and democratic transition”. Sheikh Hasina sought to quell nationwide protests against her government since early July but she fled the country after brutal unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed, taking the death count since the anti-government demonstrations began to over 300.

Protests began in June after student groups’ demands for the scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs escalated into a movement seeking the end of her rule.