In Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sinthia Mehrin Sokal, a criminology student at the University of Dhaka, remembers the head injury she sustained during a July protest against a controversial quota system in government jobs. The attack, carried out by an activist from the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party, left Sokal with 10 stitches and temporary memory loss.
The protests, sparked by the incident and the police shooting of student Abu Sayed in Rangpur, resulted in an unprecedented movement against Hasina, who governed Bangladesh for over 15 years. Students from across the country joined the protesters, along with their parents, teachers, and other citizens, forming a united front against Hasina’s government. The protests led to Hasina’s eventual departure on a military helicopter to India.
The United Nations reported that more than 1,400 people were killed during the protests, and over 7,000 were injured. Three days after Hasina fled, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was established. The Yunus government banned the Awami League and its student wing, the Chhatra League, from political activities.
However, a year after Hasina’s ousting, Sokal and others have become disillusioned. The hoped-for change remains unattainable, and political groups now compete for power. Mubashar Hasan, an adjunct fellow at Western Sydney University’s Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative, believes that elections will happen next year, but the reforms may not lead to genuine change.
Decades of taming Bangladesh by ousting Hasina
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/5/theyre-selling-the-revolution-bangladesh-a-year-after-hasinas-downfall?traffic_source=rss
