Bangladesh’s prime minister resigned and fled the country Monday, after weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs descended into violence and grew into a broader challenge to her 15-year rule. Thousands of demonstrators stormed her official residence and other buildings associated with her party and family.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s departure threatens to create even more instability in the densely populated nation on India’s border that is already dealing with a series of crises, from high unemployment and corruption to climate change. Amid security concerns, the main airport in Dhaka, the capital, suspended operations.
After the embattled leader was seen on TV boarding a military helicopter with her sister, the country’s military chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, sought to reassure a jittery nation that order would be restored. He said he met with opposition politicians and civil society leaders and would seek the president’s guidance on forming an interim government.
He promised that the military would launch an investigation into the deadly crackdown on student-led protests that led to some of the country’s worst bloodshed since the 1971 war of independence and fueled outrage against the government. He added that he ordered security forces not to fire on crowds.
“Keep faith in the military, we will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible,” he said.
The military wields significant political influence in Bangladesh, which has had more than 20 coups or coup attempts. But it was not clear if Hasina’s resignation or the military chief’s calls for calm would be enough to end the turmoil.
Even after Waker-uz-Zaman spoke, people continued to pour into and out of Hasina’s official residence, taking furniture and pulling raw fish from the refrigerators.
Crowds also ransacked Hasina’s family’s ancestral home-turned-museum where her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — the country’s first president and independence leader — was assassinated. They torched major offices of the ruling party and the country’s two leading, pro-government TV stations — both of which were forced to go off air.
Elsewhere, protests were peaceful, and thousands gathered Monday evening outside the presidential palace, where the military chief, opposition politicians and the country’s figurehead president met.
Hasina, meanwhile, landed in a city in India on the border with Bangladesh, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media. It was not clear where she would go next.
The protests began peacefully last month as frustrated students demanded an end to a quota system for government jobs that they said favored those with connections to the prime minister’s Awami League party, but the demonstrations then morphed into an unprecedented challenge to Hasina and the party.
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The 76-year-old was elected for a fourth consecutive term in a January vote that was boycotted by her main opponents.
Thousands of opposition members were jailed in the lead-up to the polls, and the U.S. and the U.K. denounced the result as not credible, though the government defended it.
Hasina had cultivated ties with powerful countries, including both India and China. But under her, relations with United States and other Western nations have come under strain, as they have expressed concerns over human rights violations and press freedoms in the predominantly Muslim nation of 170 million people.
Her political opponents have previously accused her of growing increasingly autocratic and have blamed the unrest on that authoritarian streak. In total, she served more than 20 years, longer than any other female head of government.
Ali Riaz, an expert on Bangladeshi politics who teaches political science at Illinois State University, said the country is facing a long road ahead, as politicians and the military will struggle to restore calm while satisfying various camps and reining in attempts to settle scores.
“So the challenges on the process going forward are daunting,” he said, adding that observers will be watching to ensure that the military’s role stays that of mediator, given the history of army takeovers.
Protests have continued even after the Supreme Court last month ruled that the quota system — which set aside up to 30% of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan — must be drastically cut. The government attempted to quell the demonstrations with force, leaving nearly 300 people dead since mid-July.
At least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, died in clashes in the capital on Sunday, according to the country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo. Hundreds more were injured.
At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest has also resulted in the closure of schools and universities across the country, and authorities at one point imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew.
Authorities also shut off mobile internet on Sunday in an attempt to quell the unrest, and broadband internet was cut briefly Monday but services were restored later in the day.
Over the weekend, protesters called for a “non-cooperation” effort, urging people not to pay taxes or utility bills and not to show up for work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities struggled to get to their jobs since much public transport was halted amid fears of violence.
Hasina offered to talk with student leaders on Saturday, but a coordinator refused and demanded her resignation.
Hasina repeated her pledges to investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down whenever the protesters want. Earlier, she had said protesters who engaged in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals, and that the people should deal with them with an iron hand.