Bangladesh protesters torch home of Sheikh Hasina's father; Govt says her 'provocative' speech sparked violence

Hasina delivered her address organised by the Awami League’s now disbanded student wing Chhatra League and called upon the countrymen to organise a resistance against the current regime.

New Delhi: Thousands of protesters set fire to the residence of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka and vandalised the houses of several Awami League leaders, as the interim government on Thursday blamed deposed premier Sheikh Hasina's "provocative" speech for sparking "unintended and unexpected" violence.

On Wednesday night, protesters rallied in front of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 32 Dhanmondi house in Dhaka, a memorial, following a social media call for a "bulldozer procession" ahead of his daughter's scheduled virtual address from exile in India. The mob set the house on fire while Hasina was delivering her speech.

Similar cases of vandalism also took place at several other places, targeting Awami League leaders.

In a statement on Thursday, interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s office said that the demolition of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence was "unintended and unexpected", but added that the vandalism was the "outburst of public anger created due to Hasina's provocative statements" against the July uprising from India.

In the last six months, there has been no attack or destruction on Dhanmondi-32 house, it said.

"The inflammatory statements made by fugitive Sheikh Hasina from India against the July uprising have created deep anger among the people, which has manifested in this incident," it added.

The statement said that Hasina "insulted and dishonoured" those who sacrificed their lives in the July uprising and she spoke in the same tone she used to speak when she was in power by threatening everyone involved in the mass uprising.

"The government hopes that India will not allow its territory to be used for destabilising purposes in Bangladesh and will not allow Sheikh Hasina to speak. The interim government does not want such incidents to happen again in the future," it read.

The Foreign Ministry earlier lodged a protest with India's deputy high commissioner Pawan Badhe, saying that "false and fabricated comments" by Hasina are a "hostile act" against Dhaka.

It asked India "to immediately take appropriate measures, in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding, to stop her from making such false, fabricated and incendiary statements using social media and other communications while she is in India".

Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year, when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League's 16-year regime.

In her speech on Wednesday night, Hasina called upon the countrymen to organise a resistance against the current regime.

Hasina, in a slightly emotion-choked voice, said Pakistani troops too looted the house during the 1971 Liberation War but did not demolish or set it on fire.

"They can demolish a building, but not the history... but they must also remember that history takes its revenge," Hasina said while her father's home was being demolished.

"They are yet to have the strength to destroy the national flag, the constitution and the independence that we earned at the cost of lives of millions of martyrs with a bulldozer,” she said in an apparent reference to the Yunus-led interim government.

The residence of Hasina's late husband Wajed Mian known as 'Sudha Sadan' on Road 5 in Dhanmondi was also set on fire by protesters.

The actions in Dhaka fuelled similar destructions in other parts of Bangladesh.

Protesters demolished the home of her cousins - Sheikh Helal Uddin and Sheikh Salauddin Jewel - in Khulna City. Thousands of people gathered around the house, chanting "Delhi or Dhaka -- Dhaka, Dhaka" and "Down with Mujibism".

Protesting students removed the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall of Dhaka University.

In Chattogram, protesters took part in a torch procession last night to demonstrate against Hasina's speech, which was broadcast on Bangladesh Awami League's social media accounts. They later defaced Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's murals at Chittagong Medical College and in the city's Jamal Khan area.

Protesters also vandalised murals of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman near the Circuit House ground in Mymensingh city and at the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam University in Trishal.

The homes of former lawmaker of Kushtia-3 and Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif and president of Kushtia Awami League Sadar Khan were also ransacked.

Protesters also defaced a mural of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur.

The mayhem began after Anti-Discrimination Students Movement leader Hasnat Abdullah wrote on his verified Facebook account: "Tonight, Bangladesh will be liberated from the place of pilgrimage for fascism." The statement issued by Yunus' office said that "by making irrelevant, vulgar and hateful remarks regarding the death of the martyr, the fugitive Sheikh Hasina has disrespected and humiliated the July Uprising." It said Hasina was continuing to inflict one blow after another on the wounds left in peoples’ minds by the July massacre and “in response to her violent behaviour, the vandalism of House-32 has occurred".

The statement said that the interim government was on the highest alert to protect the lives and properties of the people and if Hasina refrains from making statements, such incidents could be avoided in the future.

It added that the interim government was committed to ensuring that perpetrators of the July massacre were brought to justice.

"The government will examine what legal action can be taken against those involved in provocative activities," it said.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Adviser M Touhid Hossain described Hasina's recent statements as “highly aggressive”, suggesting that they could have offended the sentiments of the younger generation.

Hasina's father is widely viewed as an independence hero, but anger at his daughter has tarnished his legacy. He was killed along with most of his family members in a coup staged by a group of junior or mid-ranking military officers on August 15, 1975. Hasina and her sister Rehana survived as they were in Germany.

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for "crimes against humanity and genocide".