DHAKA: Thousands of people rallied Thursday in Bangladesh’s capital to mark one month since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising sparked by students over government job quotas.
Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after weeks of violence left more than 600 people dead, including students. The uprising ended the 15-year-rule of the country’s longest-serving prime minister, who began a fourth consecutive term in January following an election boycotted by the major opposition parties.
The demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Where is Hasina? Bury her, bury her!” and “Hasina-Modi, warning, be careful!” or “Naraye Takbeer, Allahu Akbar.”
They were referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Hasina is known to be a trusted ally of India. Many protesters have condemned India for promoting Hinduism and for sheltering Hasina.
The central procession, styled as a “shaheedi march” or “procession for the martyrs” began from the Dhaka University campus and marched through the streets. In addition to the many Bangladeshi flags, some participants carried a giant Palestinian flag.
Tens of thousands joined rallies across the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.
In Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, thousands of school and madrasah students in uniform took part in processions, chanting anti-Hasina slogans. Some carried banners and placards reading “We want Hasina’s execution” and “We want reforms of the state.”
Thursday’s protests came as Bangladesh was returning to normalcy, despite challenges such as a struggling economy. An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who had a frosty relationship with Hasina, has prioritized law and order to stabilize the country.
In a message to the nation marking the day, Yunus vowed to build a new Bangladesh.
“I am committed to fulfilling the dream that our young revolutionaries have instilled into the minds of the people of our country to build a new Bangladesh,” he said. “The sacrifices of the martyrs have inspired us to change the course of history. We want to begin a new era.”
In an interview with the Press Trust of India, or PTI, news agency released Thursday, Yunus said Hasina should stay quiet, and that her political remarks from India are an “unfriendly gesture.”
Opponents of Hasina want her and her associates to stand trial for mass killings during the demonstrations that began in July.
“If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” the PTI quoted Yunus as saying.
“No one is comfortable with her stance in India because we want her back to try her. She is there and at times she is talking, which is problematic ... No one likes it,” he said.
Yunus was apparently referring to Hasina’s statement last month in which she demanded “justice”, saying those involved in recent “terror acts,” killings and vandalism must be investigated, identified and punished.
The press office of Yunus, who holds the official position of chief adviser in the interim government, told journalists Thursday that he had the backing of 197 global leaders, including 97 Nobel laureates.
It said that in a show of international support, individuals including former US President Barack Obama, entrepreneur Richard Branson and renowned activist Jane Goodall, congratulated the people of Bangladesh and Yunus in a letter.
Yunus’ administration is reorganizing police, bureaucracy and other state institutions to take control as violence and unrest escalate. On Thursday, the country’s chief election commissioner and his deputies who oversaw the recent elections resigned from office.
Days of street protests by garment workers and other industries forced owners to shut their factories for days before they resumed operations on Thursday amid heightened security in two major industrial hubs outside Dhaka.
Also, media reports said that a young Hindu man was beaten Wednesday by a Muslim mob in the presence of security officials in the southwestern Khulna region after he allegedly posted derogatory comments online about the Prophet Muhammad.
The military’s Inter Service Public Relations office said in a statement later Thursday that soldiers rescued the man, named as Sri Utso, after an angry mob attacked him inside the office of a senior police official. It said he survived and was out of danger, and he would be handed over to police for legal actions against him.
Yunus in the interview with PTI refuted earlier reports that the Hindu minority had been targeted since Hasina’s fall. Modi had also earlier voiced concern over the reports of attacks on Hindus.
Yunus said the issue of attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh is “exaggerated” and questioned the manner in which India projected it.
He said the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh are more political than communal: he described them as the fallout of political upheaval as there is a perception that most Hindus supported the now-deposed Awami League regime of Sheikh Hasina.
Also on Thursday, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a formal protest to India over the killing of a 13-year-old Bangladeshi girl, Shwarna Das of Moulvibazar district, who was shot and killed by India’s Border Security Force on Sept. 1, according to Yunus’ press office.
Bangladesh has a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) border with India.