Dhaka: Eight days after being forced to resign and flee her country, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday night sought a probe into the killings, vandalism, and arson carried out “in the name of” agitation.
In her first official statement, which was posted on his verified Facebook page by her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Sheikh Hasina also demanded the culprits responsible for the unrest be identified and brought to justice, reported The Daily Star.
Sheikh Hasina’s government was toppled on August 5 in the face of a fierce student-led rebellion that started in June with the demand for replacing the job quotas in government civil service with merit-based recruitments.
However, following widespread violence and clashes during the anti-quota movement that led to a bloodbath, the students pressed hard with their single-point demand for the PM’s resignation, which
ultimately caused the fall of the Hasina-headed Awami League regime.
In the statement, Hasina said, “Since July, lots of lives have been lost in violence, arson in the name of protests.” She condoled and prayed for the victims, including students, teachers, police, journalists, cultural activists, and “a pregnant police woman.”
She also expressed her condolence for members of the Awami League and its associate bodies, pedestrians, and various professionals who died in the violence tha claimed at least 580 lives between July 16 and August 11, according to Prothom Alo.
She also recalled the killings of August 15, 1975, when her father and then president of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of his family members were assassinated.
Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, expressed “grief” over the looting, vandalism, and arson at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and sought justice from the country’s people.
She called upon the people to observe the National Mourning Day on August 15 in a befitting manner by placing floral wreaths at Bangabandhu Bhaban and offering prayers.
