'A revolution': Bangladeshis hope for democracy and justice after Hasina flees

Tanzim Chowdhury* never thought he would see the day that Sheikh Hasina, the now former prime minister of Bangladesh, would relinquish power. 

"For the last 15 years we had no rights. No way to express our democratic feelings," the youth protester told Middle East Eye over the phone as he marched through the streets of Dhaka. 

"Today is like a revolution."

On Monday, Hasina, the longest-serving premier in Bangladesh's history, resigned and fled the country, bringing a tumultuous end to her 15-year grip on power.

Hasina's resignation and choice to flee followed weeks of popular protests and increasing calls to resign after her government sought to quash demonstrations that erupted last month. At least 300 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the protests.

In response to the killings of nearly 100 protesters on Sunday, thousands of people stormed Hasina's official residence in the capital, shouting slogans and celebrating.

Later, thousands more took to the streets, waving flags and honking their car horns in jubilant scenes. 

"Hasina's resignation was inevitable. We saw this scenario coming," Muqtabis Un Noor, the editor of the Daily Jalalabad newspaper, told MEE. 

"There is no justification for 300 unarmed people being killed.

"My reporter in [the eastern city] Sylhet was killed during the protests. He had a press jacket on and a camera in his hand," Noor said. "There were no rights in Bangladesh under Hasina. No freedom of expression."

Nationwide protests began a month ago, after a Bangladesh High Court verdict was set to reintroduce a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for the descendants of veterans who fought in the country's liberation war in 1971. 

Mass protests against the quota system led by students who believed the move to be anti-meritocratic were violently supressed, fuelling further calls for accountability and the removal of Hasina’s Awami League from power. 

During the weeks of anti-government protests, Hasina would use the highly controversial word "Razakars" to refer to the demonstrators, in an attempt to appeal to her support base. Meaning "volunteers" in Bengali, the term is highly inflammatory and refers to those who collaborated with Pakistan's army during the liberation war. 

"She used this word to describe the whole Bangladeshi nation and people, and its students. We took it personally," Chowdhury said. 

"The Gen Z, along with mothers and grandfathers and everyone then took to the street. Every single member of families marched on Dhaka, to the prime minister's house."

The daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's "Father of the Nation", Hasina had often invoked her family history for political legitimacy and would also set up a war crimes tribunal to pursue offences linked to Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

Following her departure, video footage on Monday showed protesters climbing a large statue of the founding father and chiselling away at the head with an axe. 

'They ignored freedom of speech'

Reflecting on Hasina's rule, Noor said there had been some limited economic successes but the 76-year-old would largely be remembered for her crackdown on dissent. 

"The Awami League did a few good things. They built the Padma Bridge and developed a metro rail system in Dhaka," he said.

"But they totally ignored freedom of speech. Economic development means nothing if you step on people's heads."

'Economic development means nothing if you step on people’s heads'

- Muqtabis Un Noor, editor Daily Jalalabad

Prior to the recent protests, Hasina’s rule had already been marred by mass arrests of political opponents, introducing draconian laws to suppress dissent, and accusations of human rights abuses. 

Among those arrested or forced to flee the country were representatives of the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP). 

Its leader Tarique Rahman, the son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has been in exile in London since 2008. 

Mohammed Abdus Salam, a lawyer and the international affairs secretary for the BNP’s executive committee, said Hasina had been running the country like a dictator. 

"She had no legitimate right to stay in power. In 2014, 2018 and 2024, the opposition did not participate in elections so there is no legitimacy. It's been a one-party state," Salam told MEE. 

'Tired of dynastic politics'

On Monday, army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman announced he was assuming control of the country and would establish an interim government. He said that a probe would be launched into the death of protesters. 

"There must be justice," said newspaper editor Noor. "The parents of those protesters who were killed won’t get their child back. But justice, in whatever way, must still be served."

Chowdhury said protesters were wary of the country slipping into a lengthy military rule. 

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"There should not be army domination. There needs to be elections very soon," he said. 

Salam, of the BNP party, said that an incoming caretaker government needed to ensure free and fair elections. 

In those future elections, he believes his party's leader Tarique Rahman could restore the country in the coming months.

"We will have zero tolerance regarding corruption," he said. "We will also issue international standards of human rights."

But for Chowdhury, he does not want to see a return to power of the BNP, who ruled prior to Hasina. He described them as “equally culpaple” for Bangladesh's woes in recent decades.  

"This new generation, we don’t want to see Awami League, or BNP, or Jamaat-e-Islam," he said, the last of which referred to an Islamist party which was outlawed by Hasina. 

"We want a government for the people. We are tired of dynastic politics."

*Name has been changed for security reasons