DHAKA, Jul 1 (Alliance News): Bangladesh on Monday observed one year since the eruption of mass student-led protests that culminated in the dramatic fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, plunging the country into an extended phase of political uncertainty.
The protests, which began on July 1, 2024, initially focused on reforming a controversial public sector job quota system but quickly escalated into a nationwide movement against Hasina’s authoritarian governance.
The unrest, sparked by university students demanding merit-based recruitment and an end to political favoritism in the civil service, soon spread across the nation.
Demonstrators accused the Hasina-led government of using the quota system to embed loyalists within key public institutions.
The situation intensified when police resorted to violence, opening fire on protestors, which, according to United Nations estimates, led to the deaths of nearly 1,400 people by the end of July 2024.
As the protests grew in scale, the government imposed curfews, deployed the military, and enforced internet blackouts.
Despite these measures, on August 5, 2024, thousands of demonstrators stormed the prime minister’s official residence in Dhaka.
With millions taking to the streets and soldiers refusing to intervene, Hasina fled to India via helicopter. Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced the formation of a military-backed caretaker government to restore order.
In response to widespread calls for democratic reform, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh to head the interim administration as “chief adviser.”
Yunus declared the country’s administrative system as “completely broken down” and embarked on a campaign to reform democratic institutions and restore political accountability.
He vowed to prevent a return to autocracy by overhauling electoral, judicial, and civil service mechanisms.
In May 2025, Yunus’s government warned that deepening political rivalries were endangering the transition.
The interim administration called for national unity and banned Hasina’s Awami League party pending the outcome of criminal trials against its leaders.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), now considered the frontrunner in upcoming elections, pressed for polls by the end of 2025, a demand also backed by the military leadership.
Yunus, however, insisted on completing key reforms before elections and promised to step down after a national vote by June 2026.
In a significant development on June 1, 2025, Hasina was formally indicted in absentia on charges of orchestrating a systematic crackdown on protestors, which prosecutors argued constituted crimes against humanity.
The former premier, now 77 and living in exile in India, dismissed the charges as politically motivated. Several of her former ministers and top officials, including the ex-police chief and interior minister, are also facing trial.
Amid mounting political pressure, Yunus recently agreed to move the elections up to early April 2026 and stated that polls could be held even earlier if substantial progress is made in reforms and judicial proceedings.
With the BNP demanding elections before the start of Ramadan in mid-February 2026, the country’s political roadmap remains in flux.
One year after the historic uprising, Bangladesh remains in a fragile state of transition. While the caretaker government has pledged to restore democracy, the trials of former officials, deep political divides, and the lingering threat of instability continue to shape the nation’s uncertain future.
