Bangladesh parliament dissolved and former PM freed after Sheikh Hasina flees

Ms Hasina flew to India after weeks of deadly protests over government's job quota policy

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved parliament and freed jailed opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Tuesday, a day after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country.

The decision to dissolve the national assembly was made after talks involving military chiefs, politicians, civil representatives and student leaders who had led weeks of public demonstrations.

Ms Zia, 78, chairwoman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was the country's first prime minister, serving from 2001 to 2006.

She was Bangladesh's first female prime minister and had served six years of a 17-year jail term after being convicted of corruption in 2018.

She was suffering from poor health and had spent time in hospital.

The President’s office declared that all who were arrested over the student protest movement would be released.

“Khaleda Zia has been freed and many of those held for demonstrating starting [on] July 1 have been freed,” a statement read.

Residents in Dhaka read newspaper coverage of Sheikh Hasina's flight from Bangladesh. Bloomberg

Army chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman was scheduled to meet student protest leaders late on Tuesday as Bangladesh awaited the formation of an interim government.

Those who led the demonstrations that led to Ms Hasina's departure have proposed that Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus be appointed chief adviser of the government.

Ms Hasina, 76, arrived in India on a military aircraft on Monday, after thousands of protesters stormed and looted her residence in Dhaka.

India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said she had made the request “at very short notice”.

After receiving a request for flight clearance from the Bangladesh authorities, she arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening, Mr Jaishankar told the Indian Parliament on Tuesday.

Order had returned to the streets of Bangladesh on Tuesday after the army lifted a weeks-long curfew imposed to contain the protests against reserved quotas in government jobs.

Television showed people shopping, while businesses, courts and government offices reopened and public transport services resumed.

Ms Hasina's departure came a day after nearly 100 people were killed in protests on Sunday, taking the death toll during the demonstrations to more than 300.

The demonstrators, mostly students, had been protesting against the introduction of a reservation quota in government jobs that they claimed benefited supporters of Ms Hasina and her ruling Awami League party.

Ms Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, said his mother was disappointed with the events.

“She did not want to leave but we were concerned with her physical safety first and persuaded to leave,” Mr Wazed Joy told India news channel NDTV.

“I spoke to her. [The] situation in Bangladesh is anarchy and she is very disappointed and disheartened. It was her dream to turn Bangladesh into a developed country,” he said.

“We have shown what we can do, how much we can develop, but if the people of Bangladesh are not ready to step up, then people get the leadership they deserve.”

People gather outside a police station in Dhaka after prime minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation. EPA

Thousands of protesters stormed the prime ministerial residence in Dhaka on Monday as news emerged that Ms Hasina had left the country.

Gen Uz-Zaman announced the resignation in a televised address and promised to set up an interim government as soon as possible.

While Ms Hasina has been credited with turning the country’s economy around and working to reduce poverty, Bangladesh's economy has been struggling since the coronavirus pandemic.

Her government banned public rallies, issued “shoot-on-sight” orders and imposed a near-total internet and mobile blackout after the protests began early last month.