Tura, Aug 8: All eyes of the world are on Bangladesh after its government collapsed due to violent student protests, forcing Sheikh Hasina to flee the country immediately after resigning as the Prime Minister. An interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and backed by the Army has been formed. But the most attention has been garnered by the wide scale violence and vandalism that has followed after Hasina’s leaving.

With reports and videos coming of temples, churches and members of minority communities being targeted by the Islamic extremists, Hub News talked to Shammy Wadud, a resident of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to know the ground reality.

He gave invaluable insights on the emotions among the masses relating to Sheikh Hasina, Army, new interim leader Muhammad Yunus, India, and how the Muslim majority locals are safeguarding the minority communities and their institutions.

Here as the excerpts from the conversation:
Question: As a citizen of Bangladesh, you have seen this movement that has led Sheikh Hasina to flee the country, what do you have to say? Did she flee due to threat to her life or she has done worse for the people? Also, how do you think the country will be rebuilt by the new government? Do you think the Army can bring peace and tranquillity?
Answer: She has been an autocrat for about 15 years. We didn’t have freedom of speech. If anyone said anything against the government or her party, they were arrested and tortured. Not only that person, but his/her entire family had to pay the price. So many people have lost their lives in this protest but she held onto her ego and made fun of the students and the people of this country.
She fled the country in the fear of her life. Mass people marched towards her official residence and if they had found her there, she would have been dead the same day.
Army is helping the President to build an Interim government and we believe that they can bring peace in the country.
We are very happy that she left the country.
If she was dead then she was dead. But living a life knowing she had to flee will torture her for the rest of her life.

Question: As a citizen how much confidence you have on the Police or the new heads of the State? Do you think the economy of the country will become better as it might take a long time to recover from such crisis?
Answer: We have zero confidence in police. It’s a shame that they are in-charge of our lives.
The new head of the State (referring to Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus) is very educated and well trained to boost the economy. His organisation owns several crore dollars of stakes yet he lives a simple life with his basic salary from the organisation.
We have faith in him. He is someone we wanted for several years but Sheikh Hasina has tortured him for the past 15 years with multiple harassment charges against him. Everyone knows she despises him because he won the Nobel prize and she didn’t.
Yes, we have faith in him and I think we won’t take much time to overcome the current crisis.

Question: Do the citizens of Bangladesh see India as a friendly country? And do you feel that when matters and issues are subdued, inter-country trade should continue after things are resolved in the country.
Answer: We want to see India as a friendly country. But for the past several years, India has taken advantage of us. Our corrupted politicians have given one sided benefits to India where Bangladesh gained nothing. So, we have some grudges against India but we also blame our corrupted politicians. When you can get something out of nothing, why bother giving something back.
So, in future, we would like India to make a fair deal and make win-win situation and live in harmony. We love India and its people. So, when we have a win-win situation, that would be a fair deal.
Inter-country trade should be there. We are neighbours and we would love to have friendly relationships with India and other neighbouring country such as Myanmar.

Question: What about the minorities of Bangladesh? How safe can they be there now?
Answer: Few unfortunate things happened in Day 1. But from the evening of day 1 onwards, our Muslim majority people have been guarding the minorities, churches, and temples. So, they are safe now.

Also Read: No asylum or rehabilitation for any Bangladeshi in North East: NESO to Centre

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