Dhaka [Bangladesh]: Hours after Sheikh Hasina, her fierce adversary, was ousted and fled the nation, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin issued an order for the release of Khaleda Zia, the imprisoned former prime minister and country’s prominent opposition figure, reported Al Jazeera.
In a statement on Monday, the president’s press team said that a meeting led by Shahabuddin had “decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately.”
“The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests,” the president’s statement added.
The president’s meeting was attended by prominent leaders of various opposition parties, including the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, as well as Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, the heads of the navy and air force.
Zia, 78, a former Bangladeshi prime minister, is confined to a hospital due to poor health. In 2018, she was found guilty of corruption and given a 17-year prison sentence.
She and Hasina had a long-standing feud, and she was accused of abusing her position of authority by stealing almost USD250,000 in donations intended for a trust for an orphanage, according to Al Jazeera. The BNP has claimed that the cases were made up to prevent Zia from entering politics; Hasina’s administration, however, refuted these claims.
Since last month, when protests against a government job quota turned fatal, more than 2,000 people have been jailed. The demonstrations quickly turned into a nationwide campaign for Hasina’s resignation.
Earlier on Monday, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, in his remarks to the press said that an interim government would be formed and the deaths in the course of the weeks-long protests would be thoroughly investigated, reported Al Jazeera.
“I promise you all we will bring justice to all the murders and injustice. We request you to have faith in the army of the country. I take full responsibility, and I assure you to not get disheartened,” the general had said.
The military also announced that on Tuesday, the curfew would be lifted at dawn and that businesses, companies, schools, and institutions would open at 6 a.m. (00:00 GMT).
People from all walks of life marched towards Chittagong, distributing sweets in celebration. After reports surfaced that Sheikh Hasina had departed from Bangladesh, people took to the streets to celebrate, Dhaka Tribune reported.
A joyous procession began at 3 pm (local time), spreading through Muradpur, Agrabad, Dewanhat, Chowkbazar, GEC, Sholshahar, Kazir Dewri, Jamalkhan, Bahaddarhat, and every part of the city, the report said.
Bangladesh is facing a fluid political situation with the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigning from her post in the wake of mounting protests. The protests, majorly by students demanding an end to a quota system for government jobs, took the shape of anti-government protests.
Bangladesh PM Hasina arrived in India on Monday evening after tendering her resignation in the wake of mounting protests in Dhaka. It is not clear if the Bangladeshi Prime Minister will stay in Delhi or move to another location.
Meanwhile, in Dhaka, the leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement have proposed an interim government led by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, in a bid to address Bangladesh’s ongoing challenge.
This announcement was made in a video message released early hours of Tuesday by key student leaders Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, and Abu Bakar Mazumdar. President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Monday night gave his nod to form an interim government to run the country.