Bangladesh’s PM resigns after nearly 100 killed in weekend clashes

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India on Monday shortly after resigning from her post, following weeks of unrest in the South Asian nation that culminated in nearly 100 deaths in clashes this weekend.

Hasina arrived Monday at the Hindan Air Force Station in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, according to Indian media. She was greeted by Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval at the air base in a meeting that was televised by local outlets.

The resignation comes after a dramatic escalation in anti-government protests this weekend, with demonstrators demanding Hasina step down. One top local newspaper reported at least 95 people, including 14 police officers, were killed in the protests, according to The Associated Press. Channel 24 said at least 85 people were killed.

Last month’s demonstrations resulted in more than 200 deaths after student protesters took to the streets, demanding an end to a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, the AP reported.

On Sunday, the government declared a holiday from Monday to Wednesday and said mobile internet service would be cut off. Hasina called the wave of protests “sabotage” and their participants criminals, the AP reported.

India’s External Affairs Ministry has not commented publicly on the development, but Sunday, a spokesperson for the ministry “strongly advised” against traveling to Bangladesh until further notice.

Hasina has had a close working relationship with Indian political leaders who saw her rise to power and eventual prime ministership as a way to keep radical Islamist groups away from power.

Sheikh Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, became Bangladesh’s first president after India helped its fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

After the assassination of her father, Hasina first lived in exile in India, and then made her way back to Bangladesh to her eventual rise as prime minister of the country in the 1980s.

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