- Student leaders, whose protest campaign culminated in the ouster of Ms Hasina from power, met army chief Gen Waqar-uz-Zaman and President Mohammad Shahabuddin late yesterday, and the president’s office announced that “it was decided to form an interim government headed by Mohammad Yunus.”
- The Bangladeshi army has transferred several generals, some considered close to Sheikh Hasina, and demoted others, and sacked Ziaul Ahsan, commander of the dreaded Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force. Former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, 78, was also released yesterday from years of detention.
- Rights groups have alleged that hundreds of Hindu homes, businesses and temples have been vandalised since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
- Hasina, 76, was forced to resign as prime minister on Monday evening following weeks of protests over job quotas that killed more than 400 people. She fled Dhaka, reportedly after the Bangladeshi military gave her a 45-minute ultimatum.
- Ms. Hasina landed at the Hindon airbase near Delhi on Monday on a Bangladeshi military plane and is unlikely to leave India for the next few days, people familiar with the matter said.
- Sources had said she wanted to go to London to claim asylum, but her son Sajeeb Wazed has dismissed this speculation. Asked about multiple reports of the UK “silencing” her request for asylum and the US cancelling her visa, Mr Wazed said, “Reports of her seeking asylum are false. She has not requested asylum anywhere. So the question of the UK or the US not responding yet is not true”.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said yesterday that the government was giving Sheikh Hasina time to “recover” and decide on her next step. “In a very short time, she sought permission to travel to India. We also received a request from Bangladesh authorities for flight clearance,” he said.
- Mr Jaishankar also briefed the leaders of all parties on the situation in the violence-hit country and the steps taken by the Government of India to deal with potential security, economic and diplomatic fallout of the situation.
- He said the government is in touch with the Bangladesh Army to ensure the safety of Indian nationals and minorities in Bangladesh amid the violence.
- Anti-government rallies that began in June against reservation in civil service jobs turned into the worst protests of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule and spiraled into a widespread demand for 76-year-old Sheikh Hasina to step down.
