Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has dissolved the Parliament after consulting with various political parties, defence forces, civil society leaders and the heads of Students Against Discrimination, a source told THE WEEK on Tuesday.
This comes after Students Against Discrimination gave an ultimatum to take a tougher stance if the Parliament is not dissolved by 3pm on Tuesday, added the source.
Earlier in the day, the student leaders said they want Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus as the as the chief adviser to the interim government.
Nahid Islam, one of the student leaders, said in a video, "We wouldn't accept any army-supported or army-led government. We have also had discussions with Muhammad Yunus and he has agreed to take on this responsibility at our invitation."
On Monday, President Shahabuddin had ordered the immediate release of Bangladesh's first female Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who is the chief of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). It should be noted that Khaleda replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary form of government so that power rested with the prime minister.
The President said the interim government will hold elections as soon as possible after consulting all parties and stakeholders.
Following violence that ousted Hasina a day before, Dhaka was reportedly calm on Tuesday morning. Business have opened their shops while traffic returned to normal after crufew was lifted. At least 109 people were killed in clashes in different parts of the country.
