A day after Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country due to nationwide protests, the country’s parliament has been dissolved, President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s office confirmed in a statement.
The dissolution of the parliament comes hours after protesting student leaders set a deadline to dissolve parliament and warned a “strict programme” would be launched if their deadline is not met.
Nahid Islam, one of the key organisers of the movement against Hasina, in a video on Facebook with two other student leaders, had set a 3 pm deadline for the dissolution of the parliament and had called on the “revolutionary students to be ready” if that did not happen.
The decision to dissolve the parliament was taken following meetings with the heads of defence forces, leaders of political parties, student leaders and some civil society representatives, the presidential statement said.
Bangladesh’s Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman was due to meet student leaders to discuss the formation of an interim government that is expected to hold elections soon after it takes over.
It was not immediately clear if the meeting had taken place and if the students’ deadline to dissolve parliament came after the meeting.
General Zaman, on Monday, announced Hasina’s resignation following days of violent protests which have seen around 300 people being killed.
The general also announced the formation of an interim government.
The country’s ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia has been released from years of house arrest, Bangladesh National Party (BNP) spokesperson AKM Wahiduzzaman told AFP.
Zia’s release, also confirmed by the president’s office, comes as student leaders have already proposed the name of Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus as the interim government’s chief adviser.
