DHAKA, Feb 5, 2025 (BSS) - Six months have passed since the fall of dictator fascist Sheikh Hasina in the face of student-led mass uprising.

The nearly 16-year-long dictatorial fascist rule in Bangladesh ended on August 5, 2024, in exchange for blood of the student-people and thousands of lives.

Today marks the 6th month since the fall of Sheikh Hasina beginning new Bangladesh.
On that day, Awami League president Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister and fled to India. The people of Bangladesh are haunted by the burning memories of this historic change.

With the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, millions of people across the country, including the capital Dhaka, took to the streets on August 5 to express their joy at the fall of the fascist rule that had lasted for more than a decade and a half.

Countless people offered voluntary prayers on the streets on August 5 to express their gratitude as the burden of misrule was lifted from the shoulders of the nation.

In the student-people's movement against discrimination, many students including Abu Sayeed, Mugdho, Wasim and more than 1,000 people from various professions were martyred in the attacks by the law enforcement agencies including the police and armed cadres and party terrorists.

The light of 400 people's eyes has gone out in the violence of law enforcement agencies and Awami League men.

More than 23,000 people have been seriously injured and wounded. Many have had to be amputated. Thousands of people are still writhing in hospital beds with bullet wounds on their bodies.

 

The student movement that began in early July demanding quota reform in the government jobs turned into a mass explosion in mid-July with attacks by the then ruling Awami League and Chhatra League men. The atrocities of the Hasina government were coupled with the human rights violation committed by some overzealous police and law enforcement officers who were obedient to the dictatorial regime.

The indiscriminate mass killing and crimes against humanity angered the students and the masses to take to the streets to wage massive uprising that overthrown Sheikh Hasina government.

People from different classes and professions including students from schools to universities stood on the streets protesting oppression of the Awami League government.

Youths, housewives, and guardians all united on the streets to free themselves from the tyranny.

In the final phase of the student movement against discrimination that spread across the country, one point demanding resignation of the Sheikh Hasina government emerged.
This mass demand shook the foundation of the government.

The student-people's movement took the form of a red revolution and a mass uprising in the horror of the shooting and killings by the government's police and party terrorists.

Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister on August 5 in the face of strong public anger. She fled the country to India with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana in a military helicopter that afternoon.

Then, on August 8, an interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel laureate economist Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus. The new government is successfully taking forward various programs, including initiatives for reforms in important areas of the state. Various steps are being taken to modernize various constitutional institutions.

The country's apex court and the Election Commission have reflected the public's aspirations through new appointments.

In the meantime, various activities including the formulation of laws related to the appointment of judges and the updating of the International Crimes Tribunal Act have been successfully completed.

The trial of genocide and crimes against humanity conducted to eradicate the student movement against discrimination has begun at the International Crimes Tribunal.

 

June's quota reform movement spread countrywide in July and sparked widespread protest after the controversial remarks by the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina and then movement turned into a massive one following the killings of six individuals including Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur student Abu Sayeed on July 16.

In mid July, anti-discrimination students' movement announced a nine-point demand.

The students jumped into the mass movement to overthrow the government under the banner of the anti-discrimination student movement with all kinds of innovative programs.

A one-point demand for the overthrow of the government was announced from the Central Shaheed Minar. All-out non-cooperation of the students and the public began.

The families of the deceased are filing murder cases against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her cabinet members and advisers, and many Awami League MPs for indiscriminately shooting and killing people to cling onto power.

More than two hundred murder cases have already been filed against the autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina across the country, including the capital Dhaka. Investigations are underway into corruption allegations against many members of Sheikh Hasina's family. In the meantime, several senior officials of the law enforcement agencies, including ministers and MPs of the autocratic government, have been arrested. Sensational information about the suppression, oppression, looting, and corruption of these powerful people during the Awami League government is coming out.

Meanwhile, many Awami League ministers and MPs fled abroad to escape justice before the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government. Ministers and MPs who are in the country are also in hiding. They are being arrested from different parts of the country in law enforcement operations. In the meantime, the interim government has canceled Sheikh Hasina's diplomatic passport.

Sheikh Hasina's long rule was marked by severe public discontent due to the deprivation of voting rights and freedom of speech, the disappearance of opposition parties men and dissidents, extrajudicial killings and police repression, bank robbery in the name of loans under government patronage, widespread corruption and money laundering by those close to the government, widespread partyism in various state institutions from the secretariat to the judiciary, a massive increase in commodity prices, a knee-jerk foreign policy with India, etc.

By establishing a monopoly on the media, an attempt has been made to hide the misrule through propaganda just only saying the spirit of the Liberation War, fabricated statistics of economic growth, and various visible infrastructure development.

 

During Sheikh Hasina's rule, freedom of expression was routinely curtailed by law. For these reasons, public anger against Sheikh Hasina's government was accumulating like a huge pile of gunpowder.

The Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina was involved in crimes against humanity such as enforced disappearances to suppress opposition movements and dissent.

In the last decade and a half, people were abducted from homes, offices or streets in the guise of various law enforcement agencies and later denied their whereabouts.

Many of them returned, some were found dead, while many have been missing for a long time.

Relatives went door to door of various agencies days after days but could not find any trace of them.

Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League came to power in 2008 through questionable elections under a military-backed caretaker government.

During that period, Sheikh Hasina strategically abolished the caretaker government system and intensified the crisis. In 2014, the ruling Awami League won 153 seats unopposed in the 10th National Parliament elections held unilaterally without the participation of opposition parties and formed the government.

Then, in the 11th National Parliament elections of 2018, the opposition parties participated, but the Awami League won the election by sealing the ballots at night using the government administration and party workers.

And in the 12th parliament elections of 2024, they won the election through a 'dummy' contest by fielding their own party leaders as independent candidates, excluding the opposition.

As a result of this unaccountable monopoly, human rights and the rule of law in the country deteriorated severely and public life was endangered by the economic crisis.

During the long dictatorship, a nepotistic capitalist system developed, where a mafia kingdom was established consisting of government officials, politicians, businessmen and gangsters. 

These mafias indulged in occupation, corruption, looting and money laundering with complete impunity, with the blessings of the ruling family.

The trials what will be benefited to the ruling party were completed soon as the trial what will not be benefited to the ruling party or its men were overdue.

It was seen that many were sentenced in the case with minor insults or defamation. On the other hand, it was also seen that there is no precedent for a factory owner being sentenced for killing workers in a fire or building collapse. 

However, in view of the 2024 elections, testimony has taken place even at night to expedite the trial of BNP leaders and activists in various falsely filled sabotage cases. 

On the other hand, many major scandals involving the theft of Bangladesh Bank reserves or bank robbery in the name of loans have not been tried. 

The murders of journalist couple Sagar-Runi, college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu of Comilla, or teenager Tanvir Muhammad Twaki of Narayanganj have not been tried.

During the Sheikh Hasina government, an economy dependent on expensive infrastructure has developed, where growth has been on paper but employment was not created for the country's youth.

The long-pent-up anger erupted when government security forces indiscriminately shot and killed hundreds of youths in July 2024 to suppress a 36-day protest over student quota reform, ultimately ending Sheikh Hasina's long dictatorship.