PM Sheikh Hasina resigns and leaves Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Credit: Reuters Photo
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and left the country, amid massive protests against her government that has killed more than 106 people since Sunday.
Dhaka: Protesters attend the first day of the non-cooperation movement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 04 August 2024.
Credit: (EPA-EFE/MONIRUL ALAM VIA PTI)
Public sector LIC on Monday said its office in Bangladesh will remain closed till August 7.
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday issued a "high alert" across all its formations along the 4,096-km India-Bangladesh border in the wake of the developments in the neighbouring country, officials told PTI.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Sheikh Hasina is known to be on her way to London, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. She is leaving for London, the people cited above said. (PTI)
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Delhi Police has beefed up security at the Bangladesh High Commission in Chanakyapuri.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Indo-Bangladesh trade has 'halted' this afternoon amid unrest in the neighbouring country due to large-scale protests that resulted in President Sheikh Hasina resigning on Monday, according to traders. (PTI)
Dhaka : Bangladeshi Army soldiers patrol on the street after the government imposed a new curfew, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 05 August 2024.
Credit: (EPA-EFE/MONIRUL ALAM VIA PTI)
Several parliamentarians across different parties here expressed concern over the evolving situation in Bangladesh. Congress MP Manish Tewari said the situation in the neighbouring country is sensitive and evolving and hoped the government will make a statement on it in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Sasmit Patra said his party will support the Government of India's stand on the issue.
CPI leader P Sandosh Kumar termed Hasina an "autocrat" and said that her resignation was "welcome". It shows people will not accept autocrats, he said. (PTI)
"The ICC has an independent security monitoring system across all its member nations. The situation is being monitored closely but with seven weeks left for the tournament to begin, it will be too early to comment whether the tournament will be shifted from Bangladesh," an ICC board member told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
An Indian cultural centre was vandalised by an unruly mob in Bangladesh's capital and four Hindu temples suffered damages across the country on Monday, eyewitnesses and a community leader said. The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre located in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area was damaged by the unruly mob, according to eyewitnesses. (PTI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina landed at the Hindon airbase near Ghaziabad on her way to London amid turmoil in her country.
Jaishankar is believed to have briefed Modi about the evolving situation in the neighbouring country but there was no official word on the meeting. (PTI)
Sheikh Hasina
Credit: Reuters Photo
Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina will not make a political comeback, her son and former official adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy said on Monday, asserting that she left the country for her own safety on her family's insistence. In an interview to Newshour on the BBC World Service, Joy said there would be no political comeback for his mother. Joy said that his mother, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 years, was "so disappointed that after all her hard work, for a minority to rise up against her", according to the report.
Credit: Reuters Photo
People loot a monitor, a computer and a duck from the Ganabhaban, the prime minister's residence, after the resignation of PM Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 5, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
People loot a big metal box and other items from the Ganabhaban, the prime minister's residence, after the resignation of PM Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 5, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Amid a political turmoil and unrest in Bangladesh, a former Indian high commissioner to Dhaka has cautioned that India will have to be "very vigilant" on the border in the wake of the crisis even as he asserted that New Delhi will be "prepared for all eventualities".
Pankaj Saran, a veteran diplomat and former envoy of India to Bangladesh during whose tenure the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was ratified by the Indian parliament in 2015, said one cannot say when would things settle down in the neighbouring country.
"We will just have to wait for different political forces to kind of find some equilibrium inside Bangladesh," he said.
Sheikh Hasina, 76, resigned as prime minister of Bangladesh and left the country on Monday amid mass protests against her government. Thousands of protesters looted and vandalised her official residence in Dhaka.
Saran, who served as India's high commissioner in Dhaka from 2012 to 2015, said that "trouble has been brewing" for the last few weeks and the government was "not able to bring it under control".
"The last two days saw an escalation in the level of protests. Therefore, some decisions had to be taken about how to go forward in controlling the protests. (PTI)
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Monday asserted that India's border with Bangladesh was secure amid the turmoil in the neighbouring country, and urged people to not pay attention to any rumours.
Bose also constituted a “watchdog panel” that could be contacted round the clock to clarify any disinformation, he said.
"The governor assured that our borders (with Bangladesh) are secure. There is no need for panic. Beware of rumour mongers. Bengal is behind the Government of India, which is taking strong and effective steps to protect the borders," a Raj Bhavan official said.
"The Raj Bhavan has put in place a high-power watchdog committee which can be contacted for any clarification against disinformation. Strict action will be taken against those who spread rumours and misleading information," he said. (PTI)
The United Nations is following the situation in Bangladesh "very closely" and calls for calm and restraint in the wake of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and escape from the country, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.
"The Secretary-General deplores the further loss of life during protests in Bangladesh over the weekend. He continues to closely follow developments in the country, including the Chief of Army Staff’s announcement regarding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and plans for the formation of an interim government," Farhan Haq, the UN Deputy Spokesperson, told the daily briefing.
"We continue to call for calm and restraint and to urge all parties to respect the right to peaceful assembly and expression," Haq said, adding that the UN urges security forces to protect those out on the streets of Dhaka and other cities of Bangladesh.
In response to a question from the Press Trust of India on the situation, Haq said: "For us, the important things are for the parties to remain calm, and we want to emphasise the importance of a peaceful, orderly and democratic transition.
"We stand in full solidarity with the people of Bangladesh at this time and we call for full respect for their democratic and human rights. And ultimately, regarding what's happened so far, there's a need for a full, independent and impartial investigation into all acts of violence." (PTI)