Unique-Bangladesh military refused to suppress protest, sealing Hasina's destiny By Reuters

By Ruma Paul, Krishn Kaushik and Devjyot Ghoshal

DHAKA/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The night time earlier than long-time chief Sheikh Hasina abruptly fled Bangladesh amid lethal protests, her military chief held a gathering along with his generals and determined that troops wouldn’t open hearth on civilians to implement a curfew, two serving military officers with data of the discussions instructed Reuters.

Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman then reached out to Hasina’s workplace, conveying to the prime minister that his troopers could be unable to implement the lockdown she had referred to as for, in accordance with an Indian official briefed on the matter.

The message was clear, the official stated: Hasina not had the military’s help.

Particulars of the web assembly between army prime brass and the message to Hasina that she had misplaced their backing haven’t beforehand been reported.

They assist to elucidate how Hasina’s 15-year rule, throughout which she brooked little dissent, got here to such a chaotic and sudden finish on Monday, when she fled from Bangladesh to India.

The nationwide curfew had been imposed after at the very least 91 individuals have been killed and lots of injured in nationwide clashes on Sunday, the deadliest day since student-led protests towards Hasina started in July. 

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury confirmed the Sunday night discussions, which he described as a daily assembly to take updates after any disturbance. He didn’t present particulars when offered with further questions on decision-making at that assembly. 

Hasina couldn’t be reached and her son and advisor, Sajeeb Wazed, didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark. 

Reuters spoke to 10 individuals aware of the occasions of the previous week, together with 4 serving military officers and two different knowledgeable sources in Bangladesh, to piece collectively the ultimate 48 hours of Hasina’s reign. A lot of them spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of sensitivity of the matter. 

Hasina, who has dominated Bangladesh for 20 of the final 30 years, was elected to a fourth time period main the nation of 170 million in January, after arresting hundreds of opposition leaders and employees. That election was boycotted by her predominant rivals.

Her iron-fisted grasp on energy has been challenged since summer season by protests triggered by a courtroom ruling to order authorities jobs – closely coveted amid excessive youth unemployment – for sure segments of the inhabitants. The choice was overturned however the demonstrations had rapidly morphed right into a motion to oust Hasina.

Zaman has not publicly defined his resolution to withdraw help from Hasina. However the scale of the protests and a demise toll of at the very least 241 made supporting Hasina in any respect prices untenable, three former senior Bangladesh military officers instructed Reuters.

“There was a lot of uneasiness within the troops,” stated retired Brig. Gen. M. Sakhawat Hossain. “That is what probably (put) pressure on the chief of army staff, because the troops are out and they are seeing what is happening.”

Zaman, who is expounded to Hasina by marriage, had confirmed indicators of wavering in his help for the prime minister on Saturday, when he sat on an ornate picket chair and addressed lots of of uniformed officers in a city corridor assembly. The army later made some particulars of that dialogue public.

The overall declared that lives needed to be protected and referred to as on his officers to indicate persistence, stated military spokesman Chowdhury.

It was the primary indication that Bangladesh’s military wouldn’t forcefully suppress the violent demonstrations, leaving Hasina weak.

Retired senior troopers resembling Brig. Gen. Mohammad Shahedul Anam Khan have been amongst those that defied the curfew on Monday and took to the streets.

“We were not stopped by the army,” stated Khan, a former infantry soldier. “The army has done what he had promised the army would do.”

‘SHORT NOTICE’

On Monday, the primary full day of the indefinite nationwide curfew, Hasina was holed up contained in the Ganabhaban, or “People’s Palace”, a heavily-guarded complicated within the capital Dhaka that serves as her official residence. 

Exterior, on the streets of the sprawling metropolis, crowds gathered. Tens of hundreds of individuals had answered protest leaders’ name for a march to oust the chief, streaming into the guts of town.

With the scenario spiralling out of her management, the 76-year-old chief determined to flee the nation on Monday morning, in accordance with the Indian official and two Bangladesh nationals aware of the matter. 

Hasina and her sister, who lives in London however was in Dhaka on the time, mentioned the matter and flew out collectively, in accordance with a Bangladesh supply. They left for India round lunch, native time.

Indian international minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar instructed parliament on Tuesday that New Delhi had urged “various political forces with whom we were in touch” to resolve the scenario through dialogue all through July.

However as crowds gathered in Dhaka on Monday ignoring the curfew, Hasina determined to resign “after a meeting with leaders of the security establishment”, he added. “At very short notice, she requested approval to come for the moment to India.”

A second Indian official stated it was “diplomatically” conveyed to Hasina that her keep needed to be non permanent for worry of negatively impacting Delhi’s ties with the following authorities in Dhaka. India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs didn’t instantly return a request for remark.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, whom the protesting college students need to lead the interim authorities after Hasina’s ouster, instructed The New Indian Categorical newspaper that India had “good ties with the wrong people… Please revisit your foreign policy.”

Yunus wasn’t instantly out there for an interview.

Late within the afternoon on Monday, a Bangladesh Air Power C130 transport plane landed at Hindon air base exterior Delhi, with Hasina on board.

There, she was met by Ajit Doval, India’s highly effective nationwide safety advisor, in accordance with the Indian safety official.

Delhi had fought to carve Bangladesh out of East Pakistan in 1971. After Hasina’s father was assassinated in 1975, Hasina took refuge in India for years and constructed deep hyperlinks together with her neighbour’s political elite. 

Returning to Bangladesh, she gained energy in 1996, and was seen as extra delicate to India’s safety issues than her political rivals. The Hindu-majority nation additionally regarded her secular stance as beneficial for the 13 million Hindus in Bangladesh.

However again in Bangladesh, resentment nonetheless lingered even amongst retired troopers that Hasina had been allowed to depart.

“Personally, I feel that she should not have been given a safe passage,” stated Khan, the veteran. “That was a folly.”