DHAKA: Bangladeshi police resumed patrols of the capital Dhaka on Monday, ending a weeklong strike that left a law and order vacuum following the abrupt ouster of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.

Officers vanished from the streets of the sprawling megacity of 20 million people last week after Hasina’s resignation and flight abroad ended her 15-year rule.

Police were loathed for spearheading a lethal crackdown on the weeks of protests that forced her departure, with 42 officers among the more than 450 people killed.

They had vowed not to resume work until their safety on duty was guaranteed but agreed to return after late-night talks with the new interim government, helmed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

India blocks people fleeing chaotic regime change in Bangladesh

“It’s good to be back,” assistant commissioner Snehasish Das told AFP while standing at a busy intersection directing traffic. “As we feel secure now, we are back on duty.”

Student-led protests against Hasina’s government had been largely peaceful until police attempted to violently disperse them. Bangladesh was experiencing a “revolution” after Hasina’s ouster, Yunus told reporters, after “the business of the whole government collapsed”.

He had been instructed by the protests’ student leaders to take office, he said, adding he told them: “Because you ordered me to do this, I take your order.”

Several top allies of Hasina, among them the chief justice and the central bank governor, stepped down after students issued them ultimatums to quit their offices.

However, Yunus said their resignations had been conducted legally.

“I’m sure they will find the legal way to justify all of this, because legally… all the steps were followed,” he said at a late-night briefing on Sunday.

Around 450 of the country’s 600 police stations were targeted in arson and vandalism attacks over the past month, according to the national police union.

In the police’s absence, the students who led the protests that toppled Hasina volunteered to restore law and order after looting and reprisal attacks in the hours following her departure.

They acted as traffic wardens, formed overnight neighbourhood watch patrols and guarded Hindu temples and other places of worship, quickly settling the unrest.

Arrests in India

India has arrested nearly a dozen Bangladeshis attempting to cross the border to escape violence and political tumult following deadly protests that led to the ouster Sheikh Hasina, border officials said on Monday.

Hundreds more are waiting along the frontier pleading for permission to cross, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) said.

BSF said 11 Bangladesh nationals had been arrested since Sunday trying to “sneak” across the frontier into West Bengal state. “Several hundred Bangladeshi nationals are still waiting in no-man’s land to cross over the border,” BSF deputy inspector general Amit Kumar Tyagi said.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024