Dhaka falls as Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Wajid resigns, flees country

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and left the country on Monday, media reports said, as more people were killed in some of the worst violence since the birth of the South Asian nation more than five decades ago. Bangladesh Army Chief Wakar uz Zaman held a press conference and said that the Army would decide the future matters of the country and the Army would hold talks with the political parties to form an interim government in the wake of Sheikh Hasina Wazed’s resignation confirmation news. “There is a crisis in the country. I have met Opposition leaders and we have decided to form an interim government to run this country. I take all responsibility and promise to protect your life and property. Your demands will be fulfilled. Please support us and stop violence. If you work with us, we can move towards a proper solution. We cannot achieve anything through violence,” he said.   “She and her sister have left Ganabhaban (the Prime Minister’s official residence) for a safer place,” the source told AFP. “She wanted to record a speech. But she could not get an opportunity to do that.” Bangladesh’s army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman said Monday he would “form an interim government” after the prime minister resigned and fled the capital in the face of overwhelming protests. “I am taking full responsibility,” the general said, dressed in military fatigues and cap, although it was not immediately clear if he would head a caretaker government. “We will form an interim government,” Waker said in a broadcast to the nation on state television, adding that Sheikh Hasina had resigned. “The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” he added. “I hope after my speech, the situation will improve.”          He said he would talk to the president to form the interim government and had held talks with the main opposition parties and civil society members — but not Hasina’s Awami League. Waker is a career infantry officer who has spent nearly four decades in the military, serving two tours as a UN peacekeeper as well as in the prime minister’s office. “If the situation gets better, there is no need for emergency”, he said, vowing the new authorities would “prosecute all murders” following weeks of deadly protests.              “Now the task of the students is to keep calm and help us,” he said. Source: Samaatv