Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin (left) administers the oath of office to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the leader of the country’s interim government at a ceremony in Dhaka on August 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A 14-member interim government in Bangladesh, under the leadership of Noble Laureate Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday (August 7, 2024), three days after Sheikh Hasina stepped down as Prime Minister and left the the country after mass protests.

Bangladesh crisis live updates – August 8, 2024

President Mohammad Shahabuddin administered the oath to the 84-year-old as the Chief Adviser of the interim government, and the Cabinet members at 9:20 p.m. local time at a ceremony held in Bangabhaban, the official residence of the President.

Military officers, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami amir Shafiqur Rahman, Jatiya Party chairman Ghulam Muhammed Quader as well as foreign diplomats from the U.K., Japan, China, the Philippines, Iran, Argentina, Qatar, the UAE and the Netherlands were present at the ceremony.

No one from the Awami League, Ms. Hasina’s party, was seen at Bangabhaban.

After Mr. Yunus, 13 out of the 16 advisers of the interim government were sworn in. The Cabinet members are: Saleh Uddin Ahmed, Asif Nazrul, Adilur Rahman Khan, Hasan Arif, Tauhid Hossain, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Brig. Gen. (Retd) M. Sakhawat Hossain, Supradip Chakma, Farida Akhtar, Bidhan Ranjan Roy, A.F.M. Khalid Hossain, Nurjahan Begum, Sharmin Murshid, Md. Nahid Islam (students’ representative), Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan (students’ representative) and Farooqui Azam.

As Gonobhaban, the Prime Minister’s Office and official residence, remains in shambles after protesters stormed it following the resignation of Ms. Hasina, the state guesthouse Jamuna will be the office and residence of the Chief Adviser.

Sources said a committee will be formed to assess the damage to these two important installations, and renovation will begin soon afterwards.

Earlier in the day, after landing in Dhaka from a trip to France, Mr. Yunus gave an emotional speech, recalling the sacrifices made by students who were met with a heavy-handed response from the Ms. Hasina-led government.

In his speech, he addressed the people of Bangladesh as “one big family” and said the young protesters had given them a “new birth”. However, he condemned the recent violence directed against the country’s religious minorities.

“My first word to you is to protect the country from disorder. Protect it from violence so we can follow the path our students have shown us,” he said.

Restoring stability and stopping anarchy have become immediate priorities as attacks, looting and destructive activities persisted on Thursday in many part of the country, in the absence of government and enforcement agencies.

However, the Bangladesh Army, alongside other law enforcement agencies, said they would take strict action to stop the ongoing attacks across the country.

Following the newly appointed Inspector-General of Police’s call to return to duty within 24 hours, some police personnel have started to report back, but many others are waiting for security assurances before returning to their posts. Many force members are fearful of further violent reprisals from the public after having opened fire on protesters and the general public under the Hasina regime.

Shamsus Sadat Selim, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration, confirmed that all contractual appointments of officials made during the tenure of the recently ousted Awami League government are set to be cancelled. Also, there is a growing demand to remove other officials who benefited from the last government’s tenure from key positions.

Meanwhile, during a regular briefing in Washington on Wednesday, Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department Spokesperson, said the U.S. believes the interim government should respect democratic principles, the rule of law, and the will of the Bangladeshi people. Mr. Miller also mentioned that they think the interim government will play a vital role in establishing long-term peace and political stability in Bangladesh.

The story so far: On August 6, a day after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and left Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia, the ailing ex-Prime Minister of the South Asian country of 170 million was released on President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s orders. The 79-year-old chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been under house arrest since March 25, 2020, serving a 17-year prison term in two graft cases since February 8, 2018.

Ms. Zia was released after a meeting held between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military chiefs, political parties, representatives of civil society and leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, reported Bangladeshi news outletThe Daily Star. The ex-PM has several health issues, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes and heart issues.

In October 2023, the 17-doctor panel treating the BNP chief had claimed that she was at “high risk” of dying without urgent medical intervention abroad. However, the Hasina government had refused to permit her to leave the country. As per a conditional release sanctioned during a COVID-19 outbreak, Ms. Zia is not allowed to leave her residence in Dhaka’s Gulshan area.

With the Bangladesh parliament dissolved, the nation is headed for fresh elections to be held under a caretaker government, a mere six months after Ms. Hasina won the last one in a landslide.

Here’s a look at Ms. Hasina’s arch-rival Khaleda Zia and her political legacy.

1982: Joins BNP as a member

After the assassination of her husband and former military president General Ziaur Rahman in a military rebellion, Khaleda Zia entered active politics by joining the BNP and taking charge as vice-president, within a year.

1983-1990: Spearheads the anti-Ershad movement

Gen. Rahman was replaced by Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh under martial law for eight years. Opposing military rule, Ms. Zia took to the streets along with her party members to mob the Secretriat building in Dhaka. Taking charge as BNP chief in 1984, Ms. Zia headed several rallies and protests against the Ershad regime, which had imposed a stringent curfew, and scrapped social schemes and secular principles from the Constitution.

Stitching a coalition with like-minded Islamic parties, Ms. Zia formed a ‘seven-party alliance.’ Allying with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL), which headed a 15-party alliance, and the five-party Left coalition, Ms. Zia demanded an end to military rule. She was detained several times by the police and even placed under house arrest throughout the military rule.

In 1986, when the Ershad regime announced elections, Ms. Zia demanded the formation of a caretaker government to hold ‘free and fair’ polls. However, as the military government did not accede, the BNP boycotted the polls while the AL participated in the elections and emerged as the primary Opposition. The newly-elected Parliament lasted only a year as all AL members resigned and Ms. Hasina demanded free elections under a caretaker government.

As the military once again elected Gen. Ershad as the President, Ms. Zia joined hands with Ms. Hasina to launch a nationwide protest demanding an end to military rule. In the face of public outcry, Gen. Ershad resigned in December 1990, passing the charge to acting President Shahabuddin Ahmed to conducting ‘free and fair’ elections.

1991: First term as Prime Minister

The elections held on February 27, 1991 elected a ‘neutral’ ‘Jatiya Sangsad’ (national parliament), awarding BNP a slim victory. Winning 141 of the 300 directly-elected parliamentary seats, Ms. Zia was sworn in as Bangladesh’s first woman Prime Minister on March 20, 1991.

Under her first term, a bipartisan law – the 12th amendment – was passed by the Parliament to establish a parliamentary system in Bangladesh. Under this law, a House of directly-elected representatives, a council of ministers headed by the Prime Minister accountable to the Jatiya Sangsad, a constitutional head of state (President) to be voted by the Jatiya Sangsad and an independent judiciary was established. Her government also passed laws to make primary education compulsory and establish a coast guard, and also introduced a free market economy.

However, her government received a jolt in 1994, when Ms. Hasina, along with many AL members, resigned from the Parliament, accusing the Zia government of widespread corruption and rigging of by-elections. Refusing to pass the charge to a caretaker government to hold polls, Ms. Zia proposed a non-partisan advisory council headed by the President to oversee elections. With the AL boycotting the 1996 polls, Ms. Zia was re-elected for a second time in an election which saw only a 21% voter turnout.

Amid growing demands for fresh elections, Ms. Zia’s government passed the thirteenth Amendment to the constitution, allowing the formation of a neutral caretaker government to allow peaceful transfer of power and provide a level playing field to all political parties during elections. After a short, twelve-day term, Ms. Zia resigned and handed over power to a caretaker government headed by former Chief Justice Mohammad Habibur Rahman.

1996-2001: First term as LoP

Bangladesh awarded Ms. Hasina the mandate in the June 1996 polls, with AL winning 146 of the 300 seats, followed by BNP, which won 116 seats, and the Jatiya National Party (JP), led by the then-incarcerated Mr. Ershad, which won 32 seats.

Stitching a four-party alliance with Islamic parties like Jamaat-i-Islami Bangladesh, Islami Oikya Jote and Gen. Ershad’s JP, the BNP launched an anti-corruption movement against the Sheikh Hasina government. Ahead of the 2001 elections, JP exited the four-party alliance; a splinter faction headed by Naziur Rahman Manju remained with BNP.

2001-2006: Third term as PM

In the 2001 elections, the BNP-led four-party alliance won a landslide victory, winning 215 seats. Ms. Zia’s term, however, was marred by rising Islamic militancy, unchecked corruption, abuse of power, and erosion of democracy within BNP. According to The Daily Star, Ms. Zia had “stacked her party leadership and cabinet posts with her sons, nephews and other relatives,” promoting widespread nepotism. With her two sons in government, she allowed more radical and criminal members in the alliance government to rule unchecked with minimum accountability, critics alleged.

Ms. Zia’s reported patronage of Siddique ul-Islam alias Bangla Bhai, who was pivotal in forming the militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), marred her term in 2005. On August 17, 2005, 469 near-simultaneous bomb blasts occurred in 63 locations across Bangladesh, killing two and injuring over a hundred.

Her aligning with the Jamaat-i-Islami, which had opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, also caused controvesy. Further, she has declared August 15 – the day when Mujibur Rahman and most of his immediate family members were killed in a military coup— as her birthdate, which has been considered an insult to the Awami League founder who has been named ‘Father of the Nation.’ She has also shown no documents backing this day as her date of birth and has been slapped with multiple cases for questioning Bangladesh’s independence history. She has also remained skeptical of the number of martyrs in the liberation war.

During her last term as PM, she implemented free education for girls, established the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and conducted free examinations.

2006-2008: Stalemate over caretaker PM and arrest

Ahead of the 2006 polls, the BNP and AL failed to agree on a candidate to head the caretaker government. Ending the stalemate, President Iajuddin Ahmed declared himself as caretaker PM and announced elections to be held in January 2007. With the AL accusing the caretaker government of a bias towards the BNP government, Sheikh Hasina announced a boycott of the polls and Bangladesh was placed under a state of emergency.

The military-run government headed by then-Army Chief Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed initiated a ‘fight against corruption’ and arrested both Ms. Hasina and Ms. Zia for alleged bribery and corruption. After months of incarceration along with other members of the Zia family, Ms. Zia was released in September 2007. In the following elections held in December 2008, the BNP only managed to secure 29 seats – marking the start of the fall of BNP.

2009 onwards: Sheikh Hasina wins four consecutive terms

In 2009, Sheikh Hasina began her second term as Prime Minister with an absolute majority of 263 seats. She passed the fifteenth amendment which scrapped the thirteenth amendment, ending the constitutional need for transferring power to a ‘neutral caretaker government.’ This ensured her continuous wins in consecutive elections in 2014, 2019 and now 2024. Ms. Zia and BNP have boycotted all the above elections, insisting that a ‘neutral caretaker government’ was necessary for free elections.

In 2010, the Sheikh Hasina government cancelled the allotment of late Gen. Rahman’s house in Dhaka’s Cantonment area to his widow. Vacating the palatial Army bungalow, Ms. Zia retained her residence in the city’s Gulshan area.

Prior to the 2014 polls, Ms. Zia was first put under house arrest. Later in February 2018, Ms. Zia was sentenced to a five-year imprisonment term for embezzlement of funds meant for an orphanage trust. The term was then increased to ten years by the court. Later in October that year, she was also sentenced to seven years in jail in a case involving a charity fund named after her late husband. The BNP claimed that the cases were politically biased, but failed to gain public support to pressure the Sheikh Hasina government.

Due to her conviction, Ms. Zia has been barred from contesting polls, as the Constitution prohibits the participation of a convicted person sentenced to over two years in prison. In the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, Ms. Zia was conditionally released from jail for six months, but told to remain at her Gulshan residence. Repeated requests by her doctors to transport her to facilities abroad had been rejected by the Sheikh Hasina government.

Her release amid the current political crisis in Bangladesh has raised hopes for the BNP to regain its political stature in the country. With several BNP members in talks with the military and students in forming a caretaker government, a fresh election without Sheikh Hasina’s influence may signify a turn of luck for Khaleda Zia, who still heads the BNP.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with daughter Saima Wazed Hossain sister Sheikh Rehana
| Photo Credit: AFP

Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed on Thursday (August 8) said she was “heartbroken” by the loss of lives in her country and that she could not “see or hug” her mother during such a difficult time.

Ms. Hasina resigned as prime minister and travelled to India on Monday following unprecedented anti-government protests.

Also Read: Bangladesh crisis LIVE Updates

“Heartbroken with the loss of life in my country Bangladesh that I love. So heartbroken that I cannot see and hug my mother during this difficult time. I remain committed to my role as RD,” Ms. Wazed said in a post on X.

Ms. Wazed is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional director for Southeast Asia.

The protests in Bangladesh began initially with the demand to end a quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence before turning into anti-government demonstrations.

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved Parliament on Tuesday and appointed Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as head of an interim government.

A view of the border post, in Petrapole, India. File
| Photo Credit: AP

“Trade between India and Bangladesh through Petrapole land port in West Bengal, resumed on Thursday morning (August 8, 2024) amid tight security,” officials said.

Also Read: Bangladesh crisis LIVE updates

The two South Asian neighbours’ trade came to a halt on August 5 following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh and it partially resumed on Wednesday through several land ports in West Bengal, except Petrapole. Bilateral trade via Petrapole is the highest among all land ports shared with Bangladesh.

“Trade began from Petrapole since morning. There was a meeting yesterday with stakeholders from both countries to resolve the stalemate,” an official said, declining to be quoted.

Sajedur Rahman, general secretary of the Benapole C&F Staff Association, had said after the meeting on Wednesday evening (August 7, 2024) that trade is expected to resume in the morning on Thursday. Benapole is located on the Bangladesh side of the Petrapole border in West Bengal.

Trade, mostly of perishable goods, partially resumed at land ports such as Hili, Changrabandha, Mahadipur, Fulbari, and Gojadanga on Wednesday.

Officials said that in the wake of the Hasina government’s fall following large-scale violent protests against her government, India heightened security on the border.

The Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) visited Petrapole on Tuesday (August 6, 2024) to review the situation along the international boundary amid the crisis in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is India’s largest trade partner in South Asia, and India is the second-largest trade partner of Bangladesh in Asia. India’s exports to Bangladesh dipped to $11 billion in 2023-24 from $12.21 billion in 2022-23. Imports also declined to $1.84 billion in the last fiscal year from $2 billion in 2022-23.

India’s main exports to Bangladesh include vegetables, coffee, tea, spices, sugar, confectionery, refined petroleum oil, chemicals, cotton, iron and steel, and vehicles. In contrast, Bangladesh’s exports to India are concentrated in a few categories, with textiles and garments comprising 56% of their shipments.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main Opposition party when former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was in power, held a rally at Naya Paltan in Dhaka, where thousands of people gathered from different parts of the country. 

Addressing the rally virtually from London, Tarique Rahman, BNP acting chairman and son of former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, called for immediate election in the country. “The national election must be held immediately, and power must be handed over to the elected representatives,” he said.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said election should be held within three months.

Vinesh Phogat of India reacts after winning the match against Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Vinesh Phogat announces retirement from wrestling day after Olympic disqualification

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Thursday (August 8, 2024) announced her retirement from wrestling a day after she was disqualified from the 50kg category Paris Olympics finals. The seasoned wrestler was disqualified after weighing 100 grams more than the permissible limit in the morning weigh-in ahead of the final.

Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill, amends LTCG tax provision on immovable properties

The Finance Bill 2024 was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) with an amendment relaxing the recently introduced new capital gains tax on real estate. It allows tax payers an option to switch to a new lower tax rate or stick to the old regime that had higher rate with indexation benefit.

‘Will you arrest him again?’: Delhi High Court asks ED on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) questioned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) about the relevance of its challenge to the bail granted to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, when the Supreme Court had already granted him interim bail in the excise policy-related money laundering case.

Wrestler Antim Panghal and team set to be deported from Paris for disciplinary breach

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Tunisian President replaces Prime Minister without any explanation

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Mirabai Chanu’s bid for 2nd consecutive medal falls short, finishes fourth in Paris Olympics

Mirabai Chanu’s courageous push for a second consecutive Olympic medal ended on a disappointing note with the Tokyo Games silver medallist managing a fourth place finish with an aggregate of 199kg in the weightlifting hall of the South Paris Arena here on Wednesday.

Chaos continues in Bangladesh as authorities scramble to bring law and order under control

Students carried out traffic management as volunteers for the second consecutive day on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) in Bangladesh, as a top police official called on every member of the police force to resume their duties gradually and maintain law and order.

Delhi coaching centre death: Court seeks response from CBI on bail application of basement owners

A Delhi court on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) issued notice to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking the agency’s reply on the bail applications of four co-owners of a basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajender Nagar where three civil services aspirants died due to flooding, last month.

Mumbai sessions court frames charges against former RPF constable with murder of four persons

A Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) charged a dismissed Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary with the murder of four persons and promoting enmity between different religious groups.

Turkiye formally asks to join the genocide case against Israel at the UN court

“Turkiye on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) filed a request with a U.N. court to join South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said. Turkiye’s ambassador to the Netherlands, accompanied by a group of Turkish legislators, submitted a declaration of intervention to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Putin accuses Ukraine of a ‘large-scale provocation’ with its raid in southwestern Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) described a Ukrainian incursion into the country’s southwestern Kursk region as a “large-scale provocation” as his officials asserted that they were fighting off cross-border raids for a second day. Ukrainian officials remained silent about the scope of the operation.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
| Photo Credit: PTI

GUWAHATI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday (August 7) did not rule out the possibility of some extremist groups of the northeast setting up bases again in Bangladesh.

He also said the evolving political situation in Bangladesh after the violent fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government could pose a security threat to the region due to the probable displacement of people in the neighbouring country, especially religious minorities.

“The situation in Bangladesh is worrying for us for two reasons. If the unrest continues, many people will be desperate to cross over into India. This makes it imperative for us to secure our borders,” the Chief Minister told journalists at an event in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district.

“Moreover, extremist outfits of the northeast may try to exploit the tumultuous situation to set up bases in Bangladesh again, posing a renewed threat to our regional stability. During her tenure as the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina uprooted all the terror groups of the region that were operating from Bangladesh,” Dr. Sarma said.

Eye on ULFA(I)

Barring a few such as the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) headed by the fugitive Paresh Baruah, and Meghalaya’s Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council, most extremist groups in the northeast have either been disbanded, or are engaged in talks.

Beginning with Mizoram’s Laldenga and his Mizo National Front, many extremist groups of the northeast carried out hit-and-run operations in India from their bases in Bangladesh. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence allegedly helped these outfits set up hideouts in the country.

The ULFA established camps in Dhaka, Satcherri, and Sherpur in Bangladesh in 1991 and established close ties with the pro-Pakistan Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by Khaleda Zia and other political parties, including the pro-India Awami League.

The ULFA was initially not troubled by the Awami League, which turned hostile toward all extremist groups of the northeast after coming to power in 2009. The leaders and members of most of these outfits were either driven away or handed over to India.

The capture of five members of the Isak-Muivah (I-M) faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in Tripura’s Kailasahar area in October 2009 confirmed the group’s presence in Bangladesh. Caught by Border Security Force personnel after crossing into India, the five had escaped after killing six fellow NSCN (I-M) members at the outfit’s camp in Bangladesh’s Moulvi Bazar district.

Updated – August 07, 2024 12:53 pm IST

Published – August 07, 2024 12:44 pm IST – NEW DELHI

Earlier, Indian students who were studying in various institutions in Bangladesh, were also evacuated. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

India has evacuated all non-essential staff and their families from its embassy and consulates in neighbouring Bangladesh, two Indian government sources said on Wednesday (August 7, 2024), after weeks of unrest forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quit and flee.

“All Indian diplomats remain in Bangladesh and the missions are functional,” the sources added.

Besides the High Commission or embassy in the capital Dhaka, India has assistant high commissions or consulates in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet.

New Delhi:

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina quit this week and fled the country after violent protests demanding her resignation.

Ms Hasina, who started her fifth term as Prime Minister earlier this year, left the capital Dhaka in a military aircraft and landed in India.

Her shocking exit has now impacted the trade between India and Bangladesh, which had grown during her tenure.

Movement of trucks carrying goods between India and Bangladesh at the Changrabandha border check post in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district has almost come to a standstill.

“We estimate that about $300 million worth of export trade has been affected due to the political crisis in Bangladesh. We export about $30 million to Bangladesh every day,” Ajay Sahai, the Director-General of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) said.

Bangladesh, notably, is India’s biggest partner in the subcontinent, while Delhi is Dhaka’s second biggest partner in Asia after China.

Bangladesh is also the fourth largest export destination for India.

ALSO READ | What Sheikh Hasina’s Exit, Bangladesh Crisis Mean For India Ties

“Export has come to a standstill. Many trucks are stuck and even the movement of people with visas has minimised now,” Dhiraj Guha, an Indian exporter, said.

“Indian import is happening but export is completely stalled and many of our trucks are stuck,” another businessman said.

The political crisis in Bangladesh may also stall a potential free trade agreement between the two countries, which began in October last year.

Local Businesses “Hit Hard” Due To Bangladesh Crisis

Local businesses in the Indian states along the border have also taken a hit due to the crisis in Bangladesh.

Shopkeepers, transporters, and money changers are reporting over 80 percent decline in their businesses.

“The movement of people across the border is decreasing with every passing day. We have been sitting the whole day and are not getting any passengers to ferry to the nearest station,” Sanjay Das, an auto rickshaw driver at the international border check post in Petrapole in the Bagaon district of West Bengal, said.

“Our business has been hit hard,” he added.

ALSO READ | Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus To Lead Bangladesh’s Interim Government

The business has also slumped at the Akhurah-Agartala border check post in Tripura, a major India-Bangladesh border trade point.

“Earlier, we used to receive 15 trucks of fish imports daily. Other items would range from about 35 trucks. But today, only one truck of fish and two trucks of other items have entered. There is almost no trade happening and it is hurting us financially,” Titan Das, a good handler, said.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, however, said he doubts that this will “stay for long”.

A boy celebrates with a national flag after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Aug. 6.
| Photo Credit: AP

India is yet to acknowledge the reasons that triggered the student protests leading to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Bangladesh Prime Minister, said a leading member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Opposition in the country.

Speaking to The Hindu from Thailand, where he has been living in exile for the past few years, the leader said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s speech appeared to be “biased” against the students and that India could have played a more active role in preventing the crackdown against the protesters.

“Mr. Jaishankar started his speech by pointing out that there was tension in Bangladesh after the January election but failed to mention the reason behind the tension. It shows that Indian policymakers are yet to acknowledge the fact that the tension in Bangladesh was because of the fact that the January elections were a fraudulent exercise that excluded the Opposition,” said the leading BNP member over the phone.

“As the Foreign Minister of the largest country in South Asia, Mr. Jaishankar should have given an unbiased version of the events in Bangladesh,” he said pointing out that the protest and the subsequent violence were the results of a flawed political process.

Speaking in both houses of the Parliament, Mr. Jaishankar had pointed out that the months-long tension in Bangladesh erupted into the student protests of July and that the students had converged on Dhaka despite curfew.

The BNP leader did not agree with several points mentioned in the speech of the External Affairs Minister and said, “Mr. Jaishankar seems to be blaming the students for protesting. The issue is what was done to reduce tension by the government? Instead of dialogue, the Hasina government fired at the students.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Indian decisionmakers did not do enough to convince Ms. Hasina against holding a ‘flawed’ election. He said India should have done more to prevent Ms. Hasina from holding the election in January 2024 as that was not transparent. He argued that Ms. Hasina had jailed many leaders of the Opposition and several like him had to seek shelter elsewhere. He said he and other members of the BNP are eager to return to Bangladesh as early as possible. He cited the remarks by Mr. Jaishankar about the reported attacks on the minority communities and said the current situation requires mainstream political parties like the BNP to hit the ground to control the situation from spiraling out of control.

“Already we are doing our best and have created BNP volunteers groups in every locality to defend Hindu temples and other minority places of worship. Only political parties with deep public network can prevent communal clashes,” he said.

“Our leader Khaleda Zia has been freed by the military administration which is currently running the country. But that is just the beginning as many leaders are yet to be released,” said the BNP figure urging India to engage with all sections of politics in Bangladesh. He, however, displayed anxiety over the delay in the formation of the interim government. He said that as per the constitutional rules, a caretaker government had to be formed on August 6 soon after the dissolution of the government which will hold a free and fair election three months later. He urged Indian policymakers to rebuild relations and engage with the new political players.