New Hope New Dawn for Bangladeshi Democracy

August 05, 2024
New Hope New Dawn for Bangladeshi Democracy
  • Coming from exile 1981 Returning back to exile in India in 2024

Sheikh Hasina has secretly flown to India on a military helicopter as protesters in Bangladesh have stormed her official residence. It follows the death of almost thousands people during weeks-long protest.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, and her sister took a military helicopter to India's eastern state of West Bengal, according to media reports, which is just across the border. Another report, however, said she was headed to India's north-eastern state of Tripura.

Thousands of people have stormed her official residence, shouting slogans, pumping fists and showing victory signs. Thousands more took to the streets of Dhaka to celebrate the resignation of the hasina.

As a pm hasina failed in every possible way to be a people's person rather she became a fascist,  country’s democracy been buried since long hence  international criticism were massively uprising against her authority.

Coming from exile 1981 Returning back to exile in India in 2024 

Hasina will be a name in history how a leader can establish complete autocracy in a nation in the grab of  democracy. 

Mixed legacy of 15-year rule

Poverty has plummeted and more than 95 percent of the country’s 170 million people now have access to electricity, with per capita income overtaking India in 2021.

Hasina also received international acclaim for opening Bangladesh’s doors to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.

She has been hailed for a decisive crackdown on hardline Muslim groups after five homegrown extremists stormed a Dhaka cafe popular with Western expatriates and killed 22 people in 2016.

But Hasina’s intolerance towards dissent has given rise to resentment at home and expressions of concern from the Western powers.

Five top Muslim leaders and a senior opposition figure were executed over the past decade after convictions for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s brutal 1971 liberation war.

Instead of healing the wounds of that conflict, the trials triggered mass protests and deadly clashes. Her opponents branded the trials a farce, saying they were a politically motivated exercise designed to silence dissent.

The United States imposed sanctions on an elite branch of Bangladesh’s security forces and seven of its top officers over charges of widespread human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, the economy has also slowed sharply since the Russia-Ukraine war pushed up prices of fuel and food imports, forcing Bangladesh to turn last year to the International Monetary Fund for a $4.7bn bailout.

By saying we should be mindful of the conditions in which Hasina operated in the last decade: a massive population cramped in a small land with scant mineral resources, a divided and opinionated public, and continuous pressure from the global and regional powers.

“She skilfully handled all those factors and led Bangladesh to a position of prosperity and importance. As a politician, she is more competent than anyone else in recent history,” he said.

In the aftermath of a tainted election  Hasina had been successful in tackling Western pressure so far and at the same time was able to establish good relations with China, India and Russia – all of which have backed her government 

Being back from exile in india  1981  now back in exile in 2024 could be major turn not only for hasina but for Bangladesh's politics and the relationship between Bangladesh and the world. 

Aftermath of Hasina 

Everybody is celebrating, not just students –  people from all walks of life. They said this had to happen, there was nothing we could say, democracy was squeezed and now we are free,”

The message from the protesters is that whoever comes to power next “will now know that they won’t tolerate any kind of dictatorship or mismanagement and that the students will decide”, 

Bangladesh suffered many years of military rule in the 1970s and 80s following the war that secured its independence from Pakistan in 1971, and many are wary of the danger of a return.

Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman was eager to try to reassure the country. He urged citizens to keep trust in the army, which, he said, would return peace to the country.

The military has a “very tough job ahead”, Irene Khan, a UN special rapporteur, said.

We are all hoping that the transition would be peaceful and that there will be accountability for all the human rights violations that have taken place.

Bangladesh has, of course, an enormous task ahead, It is not the poster child of sustainable development any more. The previous government had driven this country into despair, and there would be a lot of hard work to do to build it up but most of all I think it’s extremely important that the army respect human rights.

The army must now ensure security and stability, in order to allow the interim government the chance to start the task of rebuilding democracy.

The current crisis presents an opportunity to put Bangladesh back on the path of genuine democracy and move beyond the hyper-partisan, winner-takes-all electoral dynamics that have caused so much damage over. And yo make sure bringing back democracy after 2 decades.

A new Dawn for Bangladeshi democracy 

Students has  shown in 15 days they can bring back the country’s democracy in shape , now it's time to bring back democracy and hold on it for the future of Bangladesh.