DHAKA: While a court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration on Tuesday, the ex-premier in her first public statement since her abrupt resignation demanded an investigation into the protests that led to her ouster.

On the other hand, the White House announced that the United States “had no involvement” in ousting Sheikh Hasina, describing her previous claim as “simply false”.

Hasina, 76, quit as prime minister on August 5 after a student-led uprising against her government and fled by helicopter to longtime ally India a week ago, where she remains, as protesters flooded Dhaka streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted tenure.

More than 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her toppling.

Bangladesh’s ex-premier calls for probe into deadly protests; US denies role in ouster

“A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more,” said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen. He said the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons”, the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.

Mia’s filing with the court also named former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and the general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party Obaidul Quader. Besides, it also named four top police officers appointed by her government who have since vacated their posts.

The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 by police violently suppressing protests. The Daily Star newspaper reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighbourhood where the shooting happened.

‘No plan to ban Awami League’

Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina’s ouster to head a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.

He took office as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration — all fellow civilians except home minister Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general — and has said he wants to hold elections “within a few months”.

Home Minister Hossain said the government had no intention of banning Hasina’s Awami League, which played a pivotal role in the country’s independence movement. “The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh — we don’t deny this,” he said.

“When the election comes, (they should) contest the elections.”

The new administration has stressed it wants to put Bangladesh on a different path. Foreign Minister Touhid Hossain told a briefing of more than 60 foreign diplomats it was “very serious about human rights”, and vowed not to “allow any violence or damages to occur. All those committing such crimes will be investigated”.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2024