Bangladesh LIVE: Yunus-led interim govt to be sworn in tomorrow

Students carried out traffic management as volunteers for the second consecutive day on Wednesday in Bangladesh, as a top police official called on every member of the police force to resume their duties gradually and maintain law and order.

Chaos reigned supreme in Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on Monday, with police absent from their duty to keep law and order or manage traffic, local media reports said.

Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) AKM Shahidur Rahman, who was appointed as the focal person of the Bangladesh Police on Tuesday to handle the current crisis, called on every member of the police force to resume their duties gradually and maintain public safety and law and order.

The students, including members of Bangladesh Scouts, were seen controlling the traffic movement at several places, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

“The police are friends of the people and work for the public. We cannot imagine a society without the police. Therefore, I request our police members once again to ignore rumours and return to their duties in a phased manner, ensuring that security arrangements are properly in place,” said Rahman, who has now been appointed as the Director General of RAB in a fresh reshuffle on Wednesday.

There were reports of attacks on police stations and facilities across the country on Tuesday, resulting in numerous police casualties, which have led to this unprecedented situation, the newspaper said.

The authorities reconstituted the top positions of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Wednesday. “AKM Shahidur Rahman has been appointed as Director General of RAB while Md Mainul Hasan will replace Habibur Rahman as the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police,” news portal Prothom Alo said.

The reshuffle comes hours after President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the head of an interim government on Tuesday night.

Attorney General Advocate Abu Mohammad Amin Uddin, who was appointed in October 2020, resigned on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, businesses on Wednesday demanded immediate restoration of law and order to ensure the safety of their production units amid incidents of arson attacks on factories over the last two days.

They said they opened factories today, particularly the garment units, but many cannot run properly fearing unrest and vandalism, the Daily Star newspaper reported, citing a press conference by the International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICC-B).

Six top officials of Bangladesh Bank, including Deputy Governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman, resigned as unrest erupted at Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday, the second day after offices reopened, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

It said that more than a hundred officials of Bangladesh Bank stormed the bank governor’s office, forcing several deputy governors to leave the office claiming the duo was helping the bank looters.

Bodies of at least 29 supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party were recovered across the country through Tuesday, taking the overall death toll to 469 in almost three weeks since the protest first started in July over a quota system in government jobs.

Media reports also flagged more and more cases of violence against minorities surfacing through Tuesday, prominent among them being the massive vandalism and destruction at popular folk band Joler Gaan’s frontman Rahul Ananda's residence on Monday prompting the singer and his family to take shelter at a secret place.

The Daily Star quoted Saiful Islam Jarnal, one of Joler Gaan’s founding members who described that the mob after broking the main gate, started ravaging the house taking whatever they could find for themselves — from furniture, mirrors to valuables and then torched the whole house along with Rahul Anand’s over 3,000 musical instruments, which he designed and made over the years.

Arriving in Delhi on a scheduled commercial flight from Dhaka in the early hours of Wednesday (August 7), Tanveer Khan appeared calm but uneasy.

"We will face new challenges in the coming days," said Khan, who is in Delhi in connection with his work.

A native of Sylhet in Bangladesh, the Dhaka Uttara area resident said he didn't know what to believe of all that were being spread on news or social media.

"Bangladesh has calmed down but we will face new challenges in the coming days. We don't know the future but we hope something good will come," Khan said.

Air India and IndiGo operated special flights to Dhaka, bringing more than 400 people amid a volatile situation in the Bangladesh capital.

A special Air India flight brought 205 people, including 6 infants, from Dhaka to New Delhi on Wednesday morning (August 7), an official said.

IndiGo's special flight flew from Dhaka to Kolkata on Tuesday (August 6) to bring back Indian nationals from Bangladesh, the airline said in a statement.

The developments in Bangladesh have sent the message to the world that the people are supreme and rulers should not test their patience, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Wednesday (August 7).

Addressing reporters in Delhi, Thackeray also dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to save the Hindus who were the target of atrocities in Bangladesh.

"If Prime Minister Modi could stop the war in Ukraine, he should also take similar steps in Bangladesh and save the Hindus there," Thackeray said.

According to a Daily Star report, there was massive vandalism and destruction at popular folk band Joler Gaan’s frontman Rahul Ananda's residence on Monday (August 5) prompting the singer and his family to take shelter at a secret place.

“Rahul Da and his family are shaken and are taking shelter in a secret place known to only a few. We could not contact him yet. It was not even his house, it was a rental he was living in for decades,” the media report said quoting Saiful Islam Jarnal, one of Joler Gaan's founding members.

Jarnal said the mob after breaking the main gate, started ravaging the house taking whatever they could find for themselves - from furniture, mirrors to valuables and then torched the whole house along with Rahul Anand's musical instruments. The fire also devoured the musician’s collection of over 3,000 musical instruments, which he designed and made over the years, the Daily Star said.