Bangladesh struggles to repair damage from Hasina’s 15-year rule

The chants get louder as hundreds of protesters turn a corner in the central part of Bangladesh’s capital, marching and calling for an end to a steep hike in gang activity and violent crime.

It was the second rally in as many weeks where young people poured onto the streets of Dhaka to voice their displeasure at where the country is headed.

“I came to protest the rampant rape cases in the country,” Anindita Biswas said at the rally last weekend, after the alleged rape of an eight-year-old girl in western Bangladesh sparked outrage.

Outside the offices of Bangladesh’s interim government, which was formed after a bloody student-led revolution toppled previous prime minister Sheikh Hasina and ended her 15 years of authoritarian rule, there was yet another protest.

This time, it was a group of people who sustained injuries in the widescale protests last July that were met with a brutal crackdown by security forces before the protesters eventually succeeded in forcing Hasina to flee by helicopter to neighbouring India.

“I need help to get proper treatment for my bullet wound,” rickshaw driver Muhammad Yaqub Ali said, showing the scars where a bullet went through his leg.

Each protest has a stark message for the country’s interim government, led by 84-year old Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize winner for pioneering microfinancing to help the poor. He returned to Dhaka to lead Bangladesh’s transition after last summer’s protests, fulfilling a request from the students leading the push for change.

His country had suffered several weeks of turmoil that left more than 1,400 people dead, after police fired at the crowds in an attempt to stifle the unrest.

The violent crackdown from the Hasina government, which had long been accused of corruption and systemic repression of dissent, could amount to crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations. In a report released in February, UN investigators found that up to 13 per cent of those killed were children.

An initial feeling of euphoria and relief that greeted Yunus’s appointment has faded seven months later. His government is struggling to get a handle on a rise in lawlessness that is fuelling persistent protests, with the declining security situation worrying many in Bangladesh, along with the slow pace of change.

‘Sorry for our state’

“I feel sorry for our state,” said Mahfuj Alam, one of the leaders of the student protest movement who was later recruited to be part of the interim government as an adviser to Yunus.

Some police officers are refusing to show up for work, he said, leading to more crime and gang activity, which is “enraging people.”

Alam told CBC News the expectations that Bangladeshis had for swift change came up against a bureaucratic system that’s so entrenched that real reform is nearly impossible.

“All are thinking that the interim government will go within one year. So why should we follow their dictates?” the 27-year old said as he described the intransigence he’s seen from the country’s political parties, bureaucrats and police officers.

“This is the reality. It’s the reality from the police, from the bureaucracy and from corporations,” he said.

“It makes us, the interim government, weak.”

Yunus has promised to restore law and order as his government picks up the pieces after the damage inflicted under Hasina’s rule.

He has toured the secret prisons where the former regime’s political opponents were allegedly held and tortured and has set up human rights commissions to investigate further.

Senior police officers have also been arrested for extrajudicial killings, and Hasina is facing hundreds of charges, including murder, crimes against humanity and abduction. She denies the charges.

Strained ties with India

Still, Yunus is convinced the former prime minister will face justice, even though Hasina is hiding out in India and the ties between the two countries are strained.

India has not responded to two arrest warrants and formal requests from Dhaka for her extradition.

“The question of a trial is not ‘if.’ It will be happening in absentia or in her presence,” Yunus told Sky News. “Not only her but all the people associated with her: her family members, her clans, her associates and all the oligarchs.”

He has said the country will hold elections between December of this year and March 2026, but the priority is ensuring reforms are in place to make sure the vote is free and fair.

The sustained instability under the interim government is also affecting Bangladesh’s fragile economy, with double-digit inflation another key concern.

On a recent morning, a government truck selling oil, rice and grains at subsidized rates by the side of the road in Dhaka was nearly overrun with dozens of people lining up and scrambling to get their hands on the discounted food.

One woman, Khadija, told CBC News she had waited four hours, but with her 16-month old baby in her arms, had to forfeit her spot and leave without the cheaper rations, which can cost up to 60 per cent more at a regular market.

Yunus also has to contend with Bangladesh’s army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, who was blunt in a speech on Feb. 25, saying he had “had enough” with the divisive politics and unrest. He said Bangladesh was in a “state of anarchy” that was “manufactured.”

“I’m warning you,” he said in Bengali. “The independence and sovereignty of this country will be at risk” if the turmoil continues.

The general also urged Yunus to maintain his promise of holding an election by the end of the year.

‘What people really want’

The students who ousted Hasina have now formed a political party and are vowing to shake up the country’s political landscape that has typically lurched between two parties, Hasina’s Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, both led by family dynasties.

“We are working for a proper democratic transformation,” said Hasnat Abdullah, 26, one of the most recognizable faces from the front lines of the July uprising.

“The people will be our topmost priority — what people really want.”

His colleague, Samanta Shermeen, 33, is the newly minted spokesperson for the student-led Jatiya Nagorik, or the National Citizens’ Party.

“The Bangladeshi democratic system doesn’t work. It’s not democratic at all. So the Bangladeshi people are struggling,” she told CBC News, adding that their party is more of a collective that will work for change.

Its leader, Nahid Islam, who left his post within the interim government to help launch the party, said he didn’t think it was possible to hold a national election that is free and fair, given the current security challenges.

Adjusting to the new reality

For many who have endured months of pain and grief after losing a loved one in the July protests, that’s not the most welcome news.

The Rahman family is still adjusting to their new reality, after the youngest of three boys, Mugdho, was shot dead by police last July.

His brothers have been painstakingly collecting evidence and CCTV footage of their younger brother’s final minutes, when he was seen handing out water and biscuits to fellow protesters.

“I’m still learning how to live my life without him,” said Mugdho’s identical twin, Snigdho Rahman.

“Mugdho was not only my twin brother, he was my best friend. We used to share everything.”

The brothers have spent many hours trying to co-ordinate compensation for victims’ families, which gives them a sense of purpose.

“We are trying to fulfil his unfinished dreams,” the eldest brother, Mir Mahmuder Rahman, said, and help the people of Bangladesh “to make this country a beautiful one.”

Snigdho Rahman told CBC News he can only hope his brother’s death, and that of the hundreds of other victims, wasn’t in vain.

“That gives me the motivation that now is the time to change, to reform everything and make a bright future for our country,” he said.

“Our future generation cannot give their life just like us. Just like Mughdo did.”