Bangladeshi police resumed patrolling in the capital Dhaka on Monday, ending a week-long strike to address the law and order crisis following the abrupt ouster of autocratic former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
After Hasina resigned and fled abroad last week, ending her 15-year rule, officials disappeared from the streets of this sprawling metropolis of 20 million.
He was forced to step down after the police were loathed for their deadly crackdown on weeks of protests that left more than 450 people dead, including 42 police officers.
Police had vowed not to return to work until their safety was guaranteed, but agreed to return after late-night talks with the new interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
“The police association ended its strike last night,” Enamul Haque Sagar, the police force’s national spokesman, told AFP.
“Police officers have returned to work today. You can see them managing traffic on the streets of Dhaka,” he said.
‘Heinous attacks’
Student-led protests against the Hasina government had been largely peaceful until police attempted to disperse them violently.
Nearly 450 of the country’s 600 police stations were targeted by arson and vandalism last month, according to the National Police Union.
Some shops reopened last weekend, under the supervision of the military, an institution highly respected because it has largely refused to participate in the repression.
In the absence of police, students who had led the protests that ousted Hasina from power volunteered to restore law and order following the looting and retaliatory attacks that occurred in the hours after her departure.
They acted as traffic wardens, formed overnight neighbourhood watch squads and guarded Hindu temples and other places of worship, quickly quelling the unrest.
Yunus’s “advisory council”, the de facto cabinet now administering the country, said it had watched with “grave concern” some of the attacks on Hindus and other minorities.
In its first official statement on Sunday night, the Cabinet said it would work to “find ways to resolve such heinous attacks”.
Bangladeshi Hindus make up about eight percent of the country’s 170 million population and have been regular targets of violence during times of turmoil.
Hundreds of people have arrived at the Indian border over the past week, demanding to cross the border.
Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago as protesters took over the streets of Dhaka, bringing a dramatic end to her hardline tenure.
His government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of his political opponents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
