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Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved Parliament thereby paving the way for fresh elections and an interim government was taking shape, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina abruptly resigned and fled the country following weeks of violent anti-government protests.
The President’s move to dissolve Parliament has cleared the way for fresh elections, just months after the January polls which brought Hasina to power again for the fourth consecutive term. The opposition had then boycotted the polls.
“The President dissolved the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) under an executive order,” a Bangabhaban spokesman told PTI.
According to PTI, As the army took charge and the death toll in the violence in which temples were also attacked rose to 440, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement that spearheaded the massive protests said 84-year-old Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus has agreed to head the interim government. Hasina, 76, is currently In India.
A number of Hindu temples, households and businesses were vandalised, women assaulted and at least two Hindu leaders affiliated with the Awami League party that is headed by Hasina were killed in the violence in Bangladesh after she fled the country, according to two community leaders in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief and ex-premier Khaleda Zia, meanwhile, was freed from house arrest, according to the Presidential spokesman.
The 79-year-old former prime minister has long battled various ailments, including issues related to the kidney, lung and heart.
The process to release those arrested Since July 1 has started, and many have already been released, he added.
