New Delhi, Aug 5 (Agencies): An Army coup on Monday forced Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and leave the country as marauding quota protesters stormed her official residence in the morning.
Hasina’s plane stopped in Delhi around 5.30 pm, en route to a foreign destination, said media reports.
The violence-hit nation’s Army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, to whom the 76-year-old PM submitted her resignation, addressed the nation and announced the formation of an interim government, and declared a state of emergency in the country, reports said.
“After holding a fruitful discussion with all political parties, we have decided to form an interim government,” the Army chief was quoted as saying in the Dhaka Tribune.
He called for a halt to all violence in the name of protest and promised that the new government would ensure justice for all the deaths that took place during the Anti-Discriminatory Student Movement, it said.
“Have faith in the army. We will accept all your demands,” the Army chief said, after the Army and various political leaders and prominent people held a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, reported Dhaka Tribune.
He said: “The Army will not fire. Police won’t shoot either. We will decide by tonight. But it may take a couple of days to execute.”
Hasina’s forced exile followed a 45-minute ultimatum given to her by the Army chief, a day after clashes killed nearly 100 people across the country, according to media reports.
On Monday, protesters stormed the PM’s official residence, Gono Bhaban, shouting slogans and waving flags, media reports said.
The PM departed from her residence on Monday afternoon on a military helicopter and carried on her further journey on a military plane, with a stop-over in New Delhi, media reports said. She was accompanied by her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, as they left for a “safer place”, the report said.
