In a recent turn of events, an exacerbation of political tensions has been witnessed in Bangladesh following a pronounced demand from a prominent student organization for the immediate resignation of the Ceremonial Head of State of Bangladesh. This Wednesday,the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement issued a two-day ultimatum for President Mohammad Shahabuddin to vacate his office.The mob took to the streets and rallied in the national capital of Dhaka, while hundreds of others attempted to storm the Presidential Palace, ‘Bangabhaban’.Statements from police and the eye witnesses reveal that security officials charged at protesters with batons and used stun grenades to disperse people late Tuesday. According to media reports, two protestors suffered bullet injuries amidst the chaos that ensued. Shahabuddin’s statement to a Bengali newspaper earlier this week about him not seeing Hasina’s resignation later as she fled the country to seek international asylum in India amid a student led uprising sparked off the nationwide neo-political turmoil. An interim government led by Nobel Laureate Md. Unus came to power after Sheikh Hasina stepped off as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on 5th of August.
In his interview with the Manab Zamin daily, Shahabuddin said that he only heard about Hasina’s resignation but had not seen the actual letter, a statement that infuriated the Yunus-led government and student activists, prompting them to call for his resignation.“I tried (to collect the resignation letter) many times but failed,” the president was quoted as telling the news outlet about the events of Aug. 5. “Maybe she did not have the time.”
In a former address to the nation, the President declared that the former Prime Minister Hasina has formally submitted her resignation letter to him and he accepted that he had, indeed, taken receipt of the document.Taking the media by storm, Asif Nazrul the country’s law advisor recently hurled accusations of perpetuating falsehoods on Md. Shahabuddin and questioned his capacity to hold the presidential office as the Head of State. Under Bangladesh’s constitution, an elected prime minister must submit his or her resignation in writing to the president. Shahabuddin was appointed president by parliament after Hasina was elected prime minister for a fourth consecutive term in an election in January.On Tuesday, some 200 student protestors demonstrated at a monument in Dhaka and accused Sahabuddin of being a collaborator in Hasina’s ‘fascist’ regime. The nationwide protests marked by the storming of the Presidential Palace on Tuesday continued in full momentum past midnight into Wednesday.Experts held that the resignation of the President could potentially lead to a constitutional vacuum in the administrative mechanism of the nation.Under the constitution, only parliament can impeach the president for misconduct or other inabilities. Although Hasina has currently sought political asylum in India, the Yunus led government has said that it would seek her expatriation, to try her for her alleged crime against humanity.
