What's Behind Bangladesh Unrest Which Triggered PM Sheikh Hasina's Resignation?

In an address to the nation on Monday, Bangladeshi Army Chief of Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman declared that he was "taking full responsibility" for the formation of an interim government in the wake of Prime Minister Hasina's shock resignation.

The new government will include representatives “from all major political parties,” Zaman said. "The country has suffered a lot. The economy has been hit, many people have been killed - it is time to stop the violence. I hope after my speech, the situation will improve," the general said.

Zaman asked protesters to give the military "some time" to calm tensions, and called on them to "stay calm and go back home." There are no plans to introduce a curfew or state of emergency at the moment, he said. Some protest leaders have warned that they would not accept "military rule."

At least 93 people, including 14 police officers, have been killed in deadly riots sweeping Bangladesh since early June. Thousands more have been injured, including over 1,100 police officers.

The unrest was triggered by changes to the country’s quota-based government job recruitment system, but quickly straddled by the opposition, turning into large-scale anti-government demonstrations hailed by Western media as “pro-democracy” protests, but watched with a sense of weariness by regional neighbors India and China - which have been offering Bangladesh active support in its push to join the BRICS+ bloc.

Serving as PM from 1996-2001 and then again from 2009 on, Sheikh Hasina has had a long history of increasingly strained relations with the United States. In April, she blasted US foreign policy misadventures in Muslim-majority countries under the guise of “democratization.”

In May, she accused the US of seeking to create a “Christian state” by partitioning pieces of Bangladesh and Myanmar. The same month, she revealed that she had been offered an easy victory in elections held in January in exchange for permission to an unnamed Western power to build up an airbase on Bangladesh's St. Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal. Her government rejected the proposal, sticking with its longstanding “malice to none” foreign and security policy, which rules out joining any military blocs.

Western media including State Department media arm Voice of America actively played up Bangladeshi opposition parties’ move to boycott the January vote, which Hasina’s Grand Alliance Party subsequently swept. State Department spokesman Mathew Miller consequently claimed the election was "not free or fair."

In the run-up to the vote, Russia accused US Ambassador Peter Haas of interfering in Bangladesh's internal affairs by aiding anti-government rallies and meeting with opposition leaders.