DHAKA: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on Monday as she fled more than a month of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government. Hasina had sought to quell nationwide protests against her government since early July but she fled the country after brutal unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed.

Later on Monday, Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of jailed former prime minister and key opposition leader Khaleda Zia. The president’s press team said in a statement that a meeting led by Shahabuddin had “decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately”. Zia, 78, is in poor health and confined to hospital after she was sentenced to 17 years in prison for graft in 2018.

Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, along with the head of the navy and air force, and top leaders of several opposition parties including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami party, attended the meeting. “The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests,” the statement added. The military said it would lift a curfew imposed to quash protests at dawn Tuesday. “Offices, factories, schools, colleges... will be open” from 6:00 am Tuesday (0000 GMT), the military said in a statement.

“We want a corruption-free Bangladesh, where everyone would have the right to express their opinion,” said Monirul Islam, a 27-year-old man among thousands celebrating in the streets near the prime minister’s palace in the capital Dhaka. Waker-Uz-Zaman earlier said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Hasina had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government.

Sheikh Hasina

“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” said Waker, shortly after jubilant crowds stormed and looted Hasina’s official residence. At least 56 people were killed Monday during violence, mainly in Dhaka but also in other cities, police said, saying gangs had launched revenge attacks on Hasina’s allies.

Millions of Bangladeshis took to the streets across the South Asian country, many peacefully. Jubilant crowds waved flags, some dancing on top of

a tank in the streets, before thousands broke through the gates of Hasina’s residence. Others later stormed parliament. Bangladesh’s Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the prime minister’s compound, grinning and waving to the camera, looting furniture and books, or relaxing on beds. One man balanced a red velvet, gilt-edged chair on his head. Another held an armful of vases.

Mobs also raided and ransacked the homes of Hasina’s Awami League party allies as well as police stations, witnesses told AFP. “The homes and businesses of pro-Awami League people have been attacked,” a senior police officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, and calling the violence “mob rule”. Others torched television stations that had backed Hasina’s rule, smashed statues of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence hero, and set fire to a museum to him.

“The time has come to make them accountable for torture,” said protester Kaza Ahmed. “Sheikh Hasina is responsible for murder.” Waker said protests should end and vowed that “all the injustices will be addressed”. The career infantry officer said he would talk to the president to form a caretaker government in the nation of about 170 million people. It was not immediately clear if he would lead it.

Security forces had supported Hasina’s government throughout the unrest, which began last month in the form of protests against civil service job quotas and then escalated into wider calls for her to stand down. Waker said he had held talks with the main opposition parties and civil society members but not Hasina’s Awami League.

Hasina, 76, fled the country by helicopter, a source close to the ousted leader told AFP. Media in neighboring India reported Hasina had landed at a military airbase near New Delhi, but a top-level source said she was only “transiting the country” and was heading to London. Citing sources, India’s ANI news agency reported that India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and senior military officers met Hasina at the airfield and she was being moved to a safe location.

Bangladesh’s military said they had shut Dhaka’s international airport on Monday evening, without giving a reason. There were widespread calls by protesters to ensure Hasina’s close allies remained in the country. The closure forced multiple international airlines to suspend flights to Dhaka. Kuwait Airways announced on Monday the suspension of flights to and from Bangladesh due to growing security unrest in Bangladesh. In a press statement, Kuwait Airways indicated that further updates would be provided as the situation evolves.

Demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota scheme that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups. The protests escalated despite the scheme being scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court. At least 94 people were killed on Sunday, the deadliest day of the unrest, with protesters and government supporters battling each other with sticks and knives, and security forces opening fire.

The latest violence took the total number of people killed since protests began in early July to at least 356, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and doctors at hospitals. Soldiers and police in several cases did not intervene to stem Sunday’s protests, unlike during the past month of rallies that repeatedly ended in deadly crackdowns. Bangladesh has a long history of coups.

Hasina’s son, US-based Sajeeb Wazed Joy, praised her economic record, telling the BBC she had transformed Bangladesh from a “failing state” to “one of the rising tigers of Asia”. “She’s very disappointed,” he said. Her government was accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

“Hasina’s resignation proves the power of the people,” said Tarique Rahman, the exiled eldest son of her nemesis Zia, who now serves as acting chairman of the opposition party. “Together, let’s rebuild Bangladesh into a democratic and developed nation, where the rights and freedoms of all people are protected,” he posted on X. – Agencies