As Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday and
fled the country. Protesters stormed her residence in the
capital of Dhaka and began looting one of the most
protected buildings in the country elsewhere in the city.
They chiseled away at the face of a statue of
her father, state founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with an
ax. India's A and I news agency said 76
year old Hasina landed at a military airfield near Delhi
. Reuters could not immediately verify this but commercial tracking
services showed a Bangladesh air force plane leaving the country
and flying west before it disappeared. The news of
her exit was delivered by army chief General Waka O
Zaman. In a televised address. He said after
a discussion with political leaders, an interim government would
be formed. Please keep faith and trust in the
army. I take the responsibility and I promise to
protect the lives and property of the people. Don't
lose faith in the army. God willing, we
will fulfill your demands and bring peace and harmony back
to the country. I request to you all to
support the army and stop the violence, murders hooliganism
and the protest Bangladesh has been engulfed by violence after
student protests began against quotas which reserves some public sector
jobs for veterans of Bangladesh's 1971 Independence War and some
of the worst violence since the birth of the South
nation. More than five decades ago, about 250
people have been killed and thousands injured. It escalated
into a campaign to oust Hasina who won 1/4 straight
term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition
in defiance of a nationwide curfew. There was jubilation
as thousands of people marched in the streets of the
capital. You will never forget the student martyrs who
have freed us today. They will always be in
our hearts.