New Delhi: Although the interim government that has taken charge in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster said that August 15 – the date of the 1975 coup and marked in the country as National Mourning Day – would not be a national holiday this year, the former Bangladesh prime minister urged Bangladeshis to commemorate the occasion in her first statement after her ouster.
“I urge you to observe National Mourning Day on August 15 with due respect and in a solemn atmosphere. Please offer floral tributes and prayers at the Bangabandhu Bhaban and pray for the forgiveness of all souls,” said the statement, posted by her US-based son Sajeeb Wazed Joy on his verified social media accounts.
Her statement came more than a week after she hastily resigned and left Dhaka on August 5, as the student-led quota reform movement had escalated into a massive uprising against the 15-year rule of her Awami League government. She fled to India, where she has remained ever since.
Following her exit, protestors in Dhaka attacked and set fire to the Bangabandhu Bhaban, where Hasina’s father and Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman resided before his killing in the coup and which was subsequently converted into a museum.
Hasina referenced the damage to Bangabandhu Bhaban in her open letter, in which she also said that Rahman had been “gravely dishonoured” and that “the blood of countless martyrs has been disrespected”.
“Bangladesh has attained the status of a developing country on the world stage. However, today that progress has been reduced to dust. The memories that were our support for survival have been burned to ashes,” her letter also read.
In the first few hours after her departure, when police and security forces had withdrawn and law and order had broken down, several public statues and images of Mujibur Rahman were also damaged.
It took four days for the political vacuum to be filled with the swearing-in of chief advisor and council of advisors for the interim government.
According to a report in the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday, supporters of Hasina’s Awami League, which is not part of the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, were planning to emerge from hiding on August 15.
Grassroots leaders and activists from the party were preparing to gather at Bangabandhu Bhaban and pay their respects at Rahman’s mausoleum, the Tribune also reported.
Meanwhile, the interim government announced that there will be no national holiday on August 15.
“The decision to cancel the national holiday on August 15 was taken unanimously after a discussion with the council of advisers and political parties,” said a press release sent from the chief adviser’s office as quoted by the Daily Star.
In her first public statement, Hasina also termed the violent protests that led to her ouster “terrorist aggression” and demanding action against those involved in the “killings and sabotage”.
She stated that “the destructive activities, arson, and violence in the name of protests have resulted in the loss of many innocent lives”.
These innocent people, whom said she said included leaders and workers of her Awami League party, became “victims of terrorist aggression and have lost their lives”, she added.
Having recalled the names of prominent people who were killed in the 1975 coup, including her parents, siblings and other relatives, Hasina said she sympathised with those “who, like me, have survived with the pain of losing loved ones”.
“I demand appropriate punitive measures against those involved in these killings and sabotage after proper investigation,” she said, referring to the violence that killed around 300 people, and ultimately caused the collapse of her government.
Murder case against Hasina
Earlier on Tuesday, a Dhaka court ordered local police to file an FIR against Hasina in a case involving the alleged lethal shooting of a grocer during the student-led protests against a controversial quota system in Bangladesh. She is accused of murder.
Other accused in the case are the general secretary of her party, the home minister at the time of the incident as well as police officials. According to the Tribune, the case statement said Hasina ordered a harsh crackdown on protesting students.
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court later rolled back the controversial quotas, but protesters then directed their ire against Hasina’s rule more broadly, leading to her resignation on August 5.
Reuters reported that the complainant in the murder case against Hasina is one Amir Hamza, who said he was not related to the grocer, Abu Saeed, who was allegedly fatally shot while crossing the street on July 19 as police fired at protesting students.
“I am the first ordinary citizen who showed the courage to take this legal step against Sheikh Hasina for her crimes. I will see the case to an end,” the news agency quoted him as saying.
The Tribune reported that this is the first murder case filed against Hasina after her leaving Bangladesh.
‘Rights are equal for everyone’: Yunus
Yunus, who is chief advisor to Bangladesh’s interim government, met members of Bangladesh’s Hindu community on Tuesday and urged them to “exercise patience” before judging his government, the Daily Star reported.
Bangladeshi Hindus, who comprise around 8% of the country’s population, faced attacks across the country after Hasina’s exit.
According to data compiled by two local organisations that the Daily Star cited, there were at least 205 incidents of attacks on the country’s minorities in 52 of 64 districts.
Visiting the Dhakeshwari Temple in Bangladesh’s capital, Yunus also said that “rights are equal for everyone”.
“We are all one people with one right. Do not make any distinctions among us. Please, assist us. Exercise patience, and later judge – what we were able to do and not. If we fail, then criticise us,” the newspaper cited Yunus as saying.
He continued: “In our democratic aspirations, we should not be seen as Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, but as human beings. Our rights should be ensured.
“The root of all problems lies in the decay of institutional arrangements. That is why, such issues arise. institutional arrangements need to be fixed.”
The Daily Star‘s editor and publisher Mahfuz Anam told The Wire that the attacks on minorities had virtually ended as of Monday.
