Hasina’s ouster grabs global headlines

The ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government dominated the international media yesterday.

Hasina's 15-year rule ended today as she fled weeks of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government. Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Hasina had resigned and the military would form an interim government.

International media reports said Hasina, 76, was flown in a military helicopter with her sister and was headed to India. The CNN News 18 television channel, an Indian TV station, said she had landed in Agartala, the capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura, across the eastern border of Bangladesh.

However, other Indian media reported that the ousted PM landed in Delhi at 5:36pm at the Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad where she was received by Air Force officials.

Several Indian media, where the news dominated all through the day, reported that she might fly to London.

Several news outlets including BBC also reported widespread looting and arson across the country since the ouster.

News agencies Reuters and AFP ran several articles on the developments that took place before and after the ouster.

According to AFP, security forces, who had supported Hasina's government throughout the unrest, did not intervene to stem Sunday's protests which claimed at least 94 lives.

It said, with Sunday's deaths, the total toll of the violence that began in early July over the quota reform protest is now at least 300.

It also showed images of crowds running into the Gono Bhaban, the official residence of Hasina as PM, waving to the camera as they celebrated, looting furniture and books, with others relaxing on beds.

Others smashed a statue of Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's independence hero.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told AFP that Hasina's departure "would leave a major vacuum".

"If it's a peaceful transition, with an interim set-up taking over until elections are held, then stability risks would be modest and the consequences would be limited," he said.

"But if there is a violent transition or a period of uncertainty, that could risk more destabilisation and problems inside and outside."

According to a Reuters report, Army chief Zaman said he had held "fruitful" talks with leaders of all major political parties he had "invited" and would soon meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin to discuss the way ahead. He also urged "a little time" to ensure peace and stability.

However, some of the crowd, who thronged the Gono Bhaban, were seen carrying away televisions, chairs and tables from what was one of the most protected buildings in the country.

CNN also reported on the development with a long article.

"Whatever demands you have, we will fulfil and bring back peace to the nation, please help us in this, stay away from violence," it quoted the army chief as saying.

"The military will not fire at anyone, the police will not fire at anyone, I have given orders," the army chief added as per the report.

The ouster of Sheikh Hasina was the lead news on BBC's website.

Besides describing the jubilation after the ouster and the bloodshed before it, quoting BBC Bangla, it reported about widespread looting in Dhaka.

Besides the Gono Bhaban, it also reported on attacks on Asaduzzaman Khan, the home minister of the ousted government, in the Dhanmondi area of the capital.

Quoting Lutfey Siddiqi, a visiting professor-in-practice at the London School of Economics, BBC also reported on the "inevitable" economic crisis the country faces.

"Sheikh Hasina's government appears to have lost both the right and might to govern. Soon it will run out of the resources to do so as well," Siddiqi told the BBC. "Bangladesh is on the verge of an economic implosion."

India Today said Bangladesh was engulfed in political uncertainty with the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.

It also showed short clips of people who stormed the Gono Bhaban.

NDTV ran several news on the developments. In its lead piece titled "Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Quits, Army Coup Amid Massive Protests", it said Hasina landed at Hindon airbase near Delhi after "fleeing Bangladesh".

The Hindu said Hasina "succumbed to the protest" and tendered her resignation. The report said Hasina had taken shelter in India before, but "this time it was not a coup" as it reported widespread anger over the recent violence.

The Dawn, Pakistan's leading news outlet, ran the development as a lead.

It said, "Bangladesh's army chief will form an interim government after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Dhaka in the face of overwhelming protests"

Xinhua, the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China, ran a five-paragraph news on the development titled "Bangladesh PM resigns, interim government to run country: army chief".

The Indian Express ran an article titled "From longest-serving PM of Bangladesh to fleeing the country: The rise and fall of Sheikh Hasina" alongside several others detailing the current developments and more.

Calling her "the world's longest-serving female head of government", the news outlet said, "Hasina's opponents have constantly accused her of growing increasingly autocratic and called her a threat to the country's democracy."