Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday organised nationwide sit-ins demanding the arrest and prosecution of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her close aides for the recent violence. Hasina left the country on August 5 after resigning from the post of Prime Minister following massive protests against her government.
Activists and supporters of the Dhaka metropolitan unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party gathered at the south gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, in front of the offices of Hasina’s party Awami League and at the Central Shaheed Minar to raise their demands. More than 230 people have died in violent incidents across Bangladesh after the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, taking the death toll to 560 during the three-week-long violence.
BNP Dhaka City South Convenor Rafiqul Islam Majnu led the protest in Baitul Mukarram on Thursday. He said, “We have announced a programme for today. BNP and its allied organisations are participating in the programme in Dhaka and across the country. We have one demand – the fascist autocrat Sheikh Hasina and her aides should be arrested and prosecuted. They have committed a brutal genocide in Bangladesh.”
Meanwhile, the US has said that it welcomes the focus of the new government on the safety of minority communities in Bangladesh and is in touch with India and other countries in the region to monitor the situation there. The US also called for an end to violence in Bangladesh.
Amid reports of attacks on temples and properties of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina resigned and left for India on August 5, several influential US lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to look into these incidents. Chief Adviser to the Interim Government of Bangladesh Mohammad Yunus on Tuesday met the aggrieved community at the famous Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka and assured them that his government would punish the culprits.