Yesterday, thousands of protesters besieged the presidential palace and tried to storm it, demanding resignation for President Mohammed Shahabuddin for his recent comment on deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
In an interview with Bangla daily Manab Zamin last week, Shahabuddin said that he did not have any documentary evidence of Hasina resigning as prime minister before she fled abroad on August 5 amid mass protests led by student violence.
Witness accounts and footage by several TV channels showed that protesters with various banners clashed with the police as the latter did not let the protesters enter the Bangabhaban. It was at this stage that the policemen sounded their sound bombs, after which the army personnel entered the palace and gradually pushed the police inside.
The situation eased a bit as the military through public address systems asked the agitators to move away from the Bangabhaban gate.
According to The Business Standard, Bangladeshi daily, two people were reported injured by the gunshots when security personnel opened fire to check the entry of protesters into barricades of the presidential palace at Dhaka. It said a third person was also wounded by a sound grenade used to create a sound explosion to disperse violent mobs.
The Anti-discrimination Student Movement, spearheading the movement that led to Hasina's overthrow, led a rally in front of Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka demanding Shahabuddin's resignation. The seven-day deadline was given as they placed five-point demands that included scrapping Bangladesh's 1972 Constitution.
Our first point (of the five-point demand) is immediate scrapping of the 'pro-Mujb (Bangladesh's founding leader) 1972 Constitution' which kept Chuppu (president's nickname) in office," said Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement.
'Abdullah, who was the concluding speaker of a giant rally at Central Shaheed Minar here, said: "The Constitution of 1972 will have to be replaced by writing a new one against the backdrop of the 2024 mass upheaval." He said the protesters would "return to the streets with full force" if the government fails to meet the demands by this week.
Several other groups under different banners joined the protests of Tuesday beside the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that stormed the premier Dhaka University campus, Shaheed Minar, and Bangabhaban.
Law affairs adviser, equivalent to minister, of Professor Muhammad Yunus's interim government Asif Nazrul earlier accused Shahabuddin of "falsehood," saying his remarks were "tantamount to violation of his oath of office." He added that if he remained firm on his comments the interim government would need to think whether he was still qualified to hold his office.
In a televised address on August 5 night, Shahabuddin said: "You know Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has tendered her resignation letter to the president and I have received it." He made the remarks as army chief General Waker uz Zaman along with navy and air chiefs stood beside him.
Nazrul on Tuesday said after his nationwide speech now if declined to receive the resignation letter, one of his two statements would be false and he could face the charge of falsehood.
The law affairs adviser, along with information ministry adviser Nahid Islam, also a leader of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, later held a nearly 40-minute close-door meeting with Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed amid media speculation that it could have centred on the modus operandi of removing the president.
The constitution expert Shahdhin Malik said yesterday Bangladesh's Parliament had the right to impeach the president but the "interim government may take any action (against the president) as many things are now happening beyond the law." Malik termed the debate over documentary evidence of Hasina's resignation letter as an "unnecessary debate" amidst the reality.
"After the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina's government, the interim government has been formed according to the opinion of the Supreme Court…no debate is needed for it," he said.
Bangabhaban, in a statement on the same day, said the president urged the people not to reignite controversy over a "settled issue."
This is a clear statement from the president that in regard to the resignation and departure of the former prime minister (Hasina) in the face of the students-people mass revolution, the dissolution of the Parliament, and all the questions raised in the public mind about the Constitutional validity of the incumbent Interim government are reflected in the order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in Special Reference No-01/2024, dated August 8, 2024, according to the statement.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, has taken over as Bangladesh's interim government's Chief Adviser following Prime Minister Hasina's flight to India on August 5.
Read also| PM Modi Engages in Bilateral Talks with Iranian President at BRICS Summit
Read also| PM Modi Assures Putin of India's Willingness to Aid in Resolving Ukraine Conflict
