Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s arrest on Monday has sparked violent protests with the police boosting security across the country. Three home-made hand bombs exploded on the Dhaka University campus, hub of political activities — on Tuesday morning.
No one was injured, but it created a panic among students and teachers. Activists of the Chhatra League, student front of Hasina’s Awami League party, had called a strike in educational institutions which was largely ignored. Security forces raided four Dhaka University dormitories at midnight on Monday night. None was arrested. “It was a routine check,” said a police officer. “We want to ensure peace on the campus.” A court rejected  Hasina’s bail plea in an extortion case and sent her to a makeshift sub-jail on Monday pending a police investigation. Hasina’s party activists across the country staged short-lived demonstrations which are banned under emergency law. Her party leaders are drawing up plans to fight legal battles and to hold demonstrations.
“We’ll chalk out future protest plans soon,” said Zillur Rahman, Awami League’s acting president after a number of his party leaders met him on Monday morning. “We’ll also fight legal battles. Sheikh Hasina must be released immediately.”
None of the reformist leaders met him, however. Barring Matia Chowdhury, party presidium member, no senior leader was present there. The military-backed caretaker government has asked its security forces to remain alert against any violence anywhere in the country.
Sheikh Hasina, 59, is the elder daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s founding leader who, along with most family members, was killed in a military coup in 1975. She governed Bangladesh as prime minister from 1996 to 2001. Police have also charged Sheikh Hasina with murder over the death of four people in a demonstration.
The arrest brought strong condemnations on Tuesday from lawyers, teachers, political parties and media. “The arrest of Sheikh Hasina is a shameful incident,” the Supreme Court Bar Association said in a statement on Tuesday. “We demand her immediate release.”
Teachers at Dhaka University and several small political parties issued similar statements. “It’s unfortunate that Hasina has been arrested even before an investigation into the allegations was complete,” said Hasanul Huq Inu, leader of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), an Awami League ally. “Such arbitrary arrest is unacceptable.”
The Daily Star, an independent newspaper, described Hasina’s detention as a “wrong and unacceptable decision”.
“The government must now explain, to the satisfaction of the public, why the Awami League chief needed to be detained,” the newspaper’s editor Mahfuz Anam writes. “The arrest sends out all the wrong signals about the nation’s democratic political future.”
The government has detained more than 170 key political figures in an anti-corruption drive, including former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman.