Bangladesh’s massive rally warns deposed PM’s allies of return

Allies of ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were seeking to destabilize the interim government that replaced her dictatorship, two of her main opponents warned at a large gathering in the capital Dhaka on Friday (November 8).

In August, Hasina, who is 77 years old, fled by helicopter to neighboring India during a student-led uprising that brought thousands of protesters to the streets of Dhaka, the city. This was a dramatic end to Hasina’s harsh rule.

Since then, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has led an interim government. Its duties include organizing new elections and implementing significant reforms to the democratic system.

The protest on Friday, one of the largest since Hasina’s removal from power, drew hundreds of thousands of participants. Members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who have long been against Hasina, organized the protest.

Tarique Rahman, the BNP’s exiled vice chairman, told the crowd through a video link from his home in London, “We have come together to protect the voting rights of the people and to stop the return of fascists.”

“We need to be careful. Despite the removal of the autocrats, negative events persist. It’s not possible for the temporary government to fail.

Hasina’s government repeatedly targeted the BNP. Human rights groups say that this is why hundreds of political opponents were killed without a trial and hundreds more were illegally taken away and disappeared.

“The plot is still going,” BNP general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the crowd. “Sheikh Hasina has run away.”

“Those with whom she collaborates are plotting to disrupt the movement.” We need to be very careful.