The people of Bangladesh have created an opportunity for themselves by way of a mass intervention in order to oust the rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and as a result, she has fled the country after resigning from her position. The people were mostly led by students and independent movements of people rather than any traditional political parties. This uprising is a product of long years of suffering of the people under the regime of Hasina. Local and international human rights organisations have repeatedly commented on and protested against the large-scale violence unleashed by her regime on all persons who expressed any form of criticism or any independent views on affairs relating to Bangladesh. Heavy levels of censorship prevailed on all forms of media including the social media even to the extent of enforcing death sentences and very serious prison sentences against persons who independently expressed their views through any of these media channels.
Even foreign correspondents were prevented from reporting in Bangladesh and some who broke such limits were brought to courts and were sentenced. The arrests and illegal detentions, torture and extrajudicial killings became the normal routine in all parts of Bangladesh. The result of this was that there was an enormous fear psychosis generated throughout the country. The marked feature of this repression was the use of courts in order to do the dealings of the regime. One Supreme Court Judge was removed from his position, and other courts were made to be subservient to the orders of the regime. Even in the recent breakdowns, when secret orders were issued to shoot to kill the protesters, there were instructions to keep such an order a secret, and there was an attempt to use the courts in order to enforce such secrets. The Police and the military were used as instruments of suppression for a long period of time. The abuse of power within the Police was so enormous that the possibility of seeking justice through the law enforcement agencies was almost an impossible task.
Instead, the law enforcement agencies were used in order to suppress protests and also to suppress organisations which were engaged in any kind of activities which were directed towards any kind of assistance to the people to defend their rights. All these were done by granting absolute immunity to the actions of the Police and the military. Within the last week of the protests, over 300 people were killed and many more have been injured. However, showing a characteristic that is being shown in other South Asian countries like for example in Sri Lanka in recent times, these protests were led by independent masses, and not by any traditional political parties that have come to the forefront for the defence of the rights of people, both in terms of their economic lives, their right to life and wellbeing, and at the same time, also the rights for protection in terms of human rights, it is these mass pressures that will remain quite a permanent part in the immediate future of Bangladesh and perhaps become a determining factor in deciding which kind of solution emerges to this problem. Already, an interim government has been formed with 17 members and led by Dr Muhammad Yunus. One of the people’s demands is holding of free and fair Elections in order to elect the Government of the peoples’ choice.
The right to free and fair elections has been denied by Hasina’s Government over a long period of time. The suppression of the political opposition to an extent that they were unable to contest effectively in elections virtually made the elections into a fake affair, and many of the political parties refused to take part in these fake elections. Now, a new period is before the people of Bangladesh, and it is to be hoped that all attempts will be taken in order to ensure that the democratic form of Government is reinforced and that the rule of law is effectively reintroduced to the country. In recent years, the law enforcement agencies have virtually collapsed due to the pressure exerted on them in order to support the repression led by Hasina’s Government. The withdrawal of these and the bringing of the policing system into an orderly system will remain major challenges for Bangladesh, and this is one of the issues on which the future of Bangladesh will depend. Associated with this problem is a need for a thorough role of the Judiciary and the steps being taken to ensure that those who have cooperated illegally with the regime be reviewed, and that the possibility of the independence of the Judiciary be restored.
As for the people, this is a moment of hope, and the international community will wish the people of Bangladesh for a better future than what they were having, and that international cooperation should be extended to the new forces representing democracy and human rights, and the wellbeing of the people.
