End violence, will meet your demands, said Bangladesh’s army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman Monday to protesters, adding that he will form an interim government after prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the capital in the face of overwhelming protests.
“We will form an interim government,” Waker said in a broadcast to the nation on state television, assuring the protesters that their demands will be met.
“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” he added.
“I hope after my speech, the situation will improve.”
Waker, a career infantry officer who has spent nearly four decades in the military, was appointed to the military’s top job as chief of army staff earlier this year.
“If the situation gets better, there is no need for emergency”, he said, vowing the new authorities would “prosecute all murders” following weeks of deadly protests.
“Now the task of the students is to keep calm and help us,” he said.
Ms Hasina, who has ruled Bangladesh since 2009, had defied weeks of demands for her to stand down but fled following a brutal day of unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people died.
Protests broke out over the reintroduction of a quota scheme that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
The protests escalated despite the scheme having been scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court.
In a hugely symbolic rebuke of Ms Hasina, a former army chief demanded the government “immediately” withdraw troops and allow protests.
The anti-government movement had attracted people from across society in the South Asian nation of about 170 million people, including film stars, musicians and singers.
The 76-year-old prime minister fled the country by helicopter, say reports, shortly after protesters had stormed her palace in Dhaka. Multiple reports say she is headed to an undisclosed location in India.
Bangladesh’s Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the compound, waving to the camera as they celebrated.
Others smashed a statues of Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahma, the country’s independence hero.
Ms Hasina and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
(With AFP Inputs)
