KARACHI: A Gen-Z revolution led by no one -- that’s how the mighty Sheikh Hasina fell. The streets of Bangladesh are full of jubilation, but what happens after the adrenaline rush subsides? Without an urgent political settlement among all stakeholders, both young and old, the situation could quickly descend into further chaos.
Salimullah Khan, tipped to lead the interim government in Bangladesh, is a writer, academic, teacher, and public intellectual. According to him, the current situation is best described as a massive popular uprising, enjoying support from the entire nation except for a few beneficiaries of the Hasina regime. He added, “Repressive measures by the Hasina regime are solely responsible for the mass murders and crimes against humanity that have occurred since the movement’s inception”.
What started as a movement by Bangladeshi students for quota reforms turned into a country-wide struggle for democracy because the Awami League government arrogantly responded with violence instead of negotiations.
“What happened in Bangladesh was inevitable. People’s upsurge can never truly be stopped. The quota issue could have been easily resolved, but so many students were killed due to Hasina’s stubbornness. The actual death toll is much higher than reported. Who knows how many bodies remain to be found or how many mass graves are yet to be discovered? Sheikh Hasina has fled, but who will answer for these crimes?”, says Brigadier General (r) M. Sakhawat Hossain, former election commissioner of Bangladesh.
The first demand of the student movement has been met with Sheikh Hasina’s resignation. Now, they seek massive political reforms to prevent any future dictators from coming to power.
TV personality and social activist Dr Abdun Noor Tushar says significant and crucial reforms are now needed. “People want to close all doors to authoritarian leaders in the future. Our Gen-Z has identified historical faults and rejected state propaganda. Opposing such youth will be harmful to any government, interim or otherwise, because this generation will be active for the next 50 or 60 years. Going against them or using brutal force will no longer go unanswered. This is the beginning of a new change in South Asian politics, and as usual, Bangladesh is leading the way.”
After 15 years of Awami League rule, interspersed with sham elections, allegations of massive corruption, crony appointments, nepotism, and systematic crackdowns on any opposition, the student movement is demanding accountability and a new social contract with the state of Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh has become independent again. Hasina and all her collaborators should be tried. The Awami League should be banned like the Nazi Party. No autocrat should ever be allowed to come to power again in this country. A new police force should be established, and the Rapid Action Battalion should be abolished. Army rule will not be tolerated. We want a new national unity government. The student upsurge will continue until such matters are settled”, says Salim Reza Newton, Bangladeshi academic and writer.
Within hours of the fall of Hasina’s regime, President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of former prime minister and main opposition leader Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as well as over 11,000 protesters arrested during the student movement.
Development economist Monowar Mostafa believes Gen-Z will be instrumental in building a new Bangladesh. “We are free from the suffocating political environment of the last decade. Our young generation grew up in a time when they couldn’t express their views freely or vote, and then the government tried to crush their spontaneous reform movement with brutal force. These young people have witnessed infinite injustices, corruption, and nepotism during the 15 years of Awami League rule, and they are adamant about never living through such tyranny again.”
Hindus constitute around eight per cent of Bangladesh’s 175 million people. Author, satirist, and journalist Maskwaith Ahsan believes that moving forward, religious harmony should be the core spirit of the new Bangladesh, and anti-India sentiments should not translate into anti-Hindu policies.
He is of the view that “Even after the July Massacre in Bangladesh, the Hasina regime remained resolutely unrepentant. Following a fascist playbook, Sheikh Hasina divided the nation into pro-liberation and anti-liberation factions. She herself was not a freedom fighter, yet leveraged her father’s leadership in the liberation movement to claim a proprietary quota in Bangladesh’s identity.”
“Hasina has treated Bangladesh as her colony, destroyed every institution, killed democracy, created a huge wealth gap, and committed crimes against humanity. The future of Bangladesh lies in not repeating what Hasina has done,” says Maskwaith Ahsan.
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