NEW DELHI: Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country after student protestors stormed her residence, continues to stay in India, where she is being hosted as a guest. According to a source, Hasina has been accommodated in a safe house in India, where she can stay as long as she wants. There are speculations about where she could possibly go from here, but there is no confirmation on when or where she would, as she is safe in India for the moment.Angry student agitators had stormed into Hasina’s official residence in Gono Bhaban around 3 pm on August 5, ending her 15 years in power. Widespread arson and looting have ensued in the country ever since.The ground situation in the country continues to be volatile, with houses and businesses of major Awami League members, who are all on the run, have been burnt down. Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman on Wednesday announced that an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, will be sworn in on Thursday.Dr Yunus, along with six others, were sentenced to jail on January 1 this year for labour law violations, but has been acquitted now. The Labour Law Appellate Tribunal, which delivered the verdict on Wednesday, fined Dr Yunus Taka 30,000 under two different sections. Former prime minister and Bangladesh National Party chairperson Khalida Zia, who was jailed since 2018, was also released on Tuesday. In her first public speech after her acquittal, Zia urged for peace.“Not destruction, not revenge, not vengeance. Let’s build a society based on love, peace and knowledge,” said Zia via a video from the hospital where she is undergoing treatment.In the meantime, the ground situation in Bangladesh continues to be volatile, with reports of arson and looting. The Indira Gandhi Centre in Dhaka is vandalised and looted, said reports.“Last time something like this happened was when Chief Justice Latifur Rahman was the caretaker of the government. After the parliamentary elections concluded in October 2001, for 10 days there were arson and looting, and minorities were attacked. This time it is worse. Not just are the minorities being attacked, but there also seems to be no control in sight,” Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah told this newspaper.With police on strike (as many have been killed) and Army back to the barracks, students are now manning traffic and also cleaning up roads.Love & peace to build Bangladesh: ZiaA day after her release from house arrest, Bangladesh’s former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday thanked the people for their “struggle to make possible the impossible” and said it is not anger or revenge, but love and peace that will rebuild the nation. In her first public speech since 2018, delivered via video link at the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) rally in Nayapaltan, the 79-year-old appealed for calm. She thanked people as they fought and prayed for her to be released from imprisonment.India-Bangla trade resumes partiallyTrade between India and Bangladesh, which has halted since August 5, resumed partially through several land ports in West Bengal on Wednesday, officials said. Trade, mostly of perishable goods, resumed in land ports at Hili, Changrabandha, Mahadipur, Fulbari, and Gojadanga. Export from Petrapole, South Asia’s largest land port in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, is expected to commence on Thursday, officials said after a meeting between the land port authorities of the two countries.
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