Australia Urges Investigation Into Incidents in Bangladesh

Australia, via its Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, has called for an investigation into the causes behind a month of rioting in Bangladesh which has seen an estimated 432 people dead and the overthrow of the country’s head for the past 15 years, Sheikh Hasina.

“The Australian government is deeply concerned by the violence and tragic loss of life in Bangladesh,” Wong said in a social media post.

“In the transition to an interim government, Australia calls on all parties to cease violence, de-escalate the situation and respect universal human rights.

“Australia continues to stand with the people of Bangladesh and supports their calls for an orderly and peaceful return to a democratic and inclusive government.”

But the minister also called for “a full, independent and impartial investigation into events of recent weeks,” but did not specify what organisation should undertake the task.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has also raised its travel warning to Bangladesh to “do not travel.”

“There’s ongoing protests and demonstrations across Bangladesh, with violent clashes throughout Dhaka and other cities. Many deaths and injuries have been reported. Curfews have been imposed at short notice,” the update said.

Wong said the situation was extremely volatile, telling Australians to avoid large gatherings and follow the advice of local authorities.

Unrest and Violence

Hasina resigned and fled to India on Aug. 5 as anti-government protesters stormed her palace in the capital Dhaka, a day of chaotic violence in which at least 122 people were killed.

The demonstrations against civil service job quotas began in early July and were initially peaceful, but they escalated when the government refused to meet the protesters’ demands. Most of the protesters were students.

The unrest then spread to wider calls for Hasina, who was accused of rigging elections in January, to step down.

In fact, it was the Bangladesh High Court that ordered the country to return to a system that saw 30 percent of government jobs reserved for relatives of “Freedom fighters”—the soldiers who fought against Pakistan for the country’s independence in 1971.

Introduced in 1972 by Hasina’s father, the founding father of the country, the quotas are also believed to give preferential treatment to those close to Hasina’s Awami League party.

Unemployment is a major issue for Bangladesh, with nearly 18 million mostly young people unemployed in a country with a population of 170 million.

Questions over who will rule now are in doubt, as the country’s political system was already in chaos.

Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman is believed to want to take over and has been in contact with the main opposition parties but not the Awami League. But military rule is strongly opposed by leaders of the student protest.

The leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Khaleda Zia, has been imprisoned and in poor health (though he was released on Aug. 6), and his presumed heir, Tarique Rahman, lives in exile in London.

The other main opposition party, the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, was recently banned by Hasina’s government.

In the meantime, following a meeting between Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders, and the heads of the Students Against Discrimination group, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus will be the chief adviser of an interim government.