Bangladesh dissolves parliament, opens door to interim government

The president of BangladeshMohammed Shahabuddin, declared the dissolution of parliament on Tuesday, thus allowing the creation of an interim government. This decision came a day after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country.

The president’s office announced the dissolution, which came after several weeks of intense street protests that led to Hasina’s resignation and left more than 400 people dead.

“As a result of President Shahabuddin’s meeting with the heads of the three defence forces, various political leaders, representatives of civil society and leaders of the ‘Students Against Discrimination’ movement, Parliament has been dissolved,” the statement said.

Shahabuddin thus fulfilled the ultimatum of the leaders of the student protests, which led to the current chaos and Hasina’s resignation after turning violent in mid-July, and who had set a deadline of 3:00 p.m. local time (09:00 GMT) to dissolve parliament, or they would toughen their program.

This action was an essential step to facilitate the creation of an interim government, as indicated yesterday by the head of the Bangladesh Army, Waker-Uz-Zaman, in a statement confirming the resignation of the former prime minister and her departure from the country.

Interim government must restore the law

The composition of the new interim government is still unknown, but student leaders have proposed Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus as a senior adviser to the cabinet, with the blessing of the laureate.

The interim government will focus on restoring law and order on the streets after yesterday’s deadliest day since the start of student protests. These demonstrations began a month ago to demand the elimination of a quota system in public employment and subsequently demanded Hasina’s resignation due to the violent repression of the demonstrations.

According to EFE, at least 99 people died in the last day during violent clashes that ended with the burning of several buildings belonging to members of the Awami League and the party’s offices.

(With information from EFE)

President of Bangladesh, Mohammed Shahabuddin.

The interim government will be responsible for restoring order on the streets.

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