Sm Najmus Sakib
February 10, 2025•Update: February 10, 2025
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Bangladesh launched a security operation over the weekend to restore order after ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared in a Facebook broadcast from exile in neighboring India, triggering violent protests.
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, head of the Interior Ministry in the interim government, dubbed it “Operation Devil Hunt,” telling reporters that it will “continue until we uproot the devils."
Security forces arrested 1,308 people across the country from Saturday night until noon Sunday, most of whom were reportedly linked to Hasina’s Awami League party.
Hasina, who fled to India on Aug. 5 last year amid a student-led uprising, spoke to her followers on social media in a live address on Feb. 5 marking six months since her fall. She asked her supporters to take to the streets to protest against the transitional government, calling it “illegal and unconstitutional.”
On Friday, supporters of Hasina reportedly attacked and seriously injured around 20 students in central Gazipur district.
With members of Students Against Discrimination -- the protest group credited with triggering the uprising against Hasina – demanding action, security forces in a joint operation arrested more than 65 people in Gazipur, including 40 members of the Awami League, according to Chowdhury Md Jaber Sadek, Gazipur district's superintendent of police.
Law enforcement agencies have also set up checkpoints in various parts of the country.
The interim administration of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has also opened a “Command Center” to improve law and order and establish coordination among the security forces, including the armed forces, his Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam, said at a news briefing in the capital Dhaka.
“It will be possible to respond very quickly,” he said, explaining the work of the center.
Following Hasina’s speech, angry protesters torched and vandalized the house-turned-museum of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh, and other structures named after his family members across the country.
Yunus, who took office as head of the transitional government after the uprising against Hasina, during which over 1,000 people were killed, viewed Hasina’s action from India as a “hostile act” towards Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry also summoned the acting Indian high commissioner in Dhaka.
Allowing Hasina to conduct such activities from India was “not conducive to the efforts at establishing a healthy relationship between the two countries,” the ministry said.
India’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on Mujibur Rahman’s home in Dhaka, calling the house important historically.
However, in reaction to the Indian Foreign Ministry’s statement, Bangladesh said Sunday that any statement by India on its internal matters is “unexpected and undesirable.”
“We have seen various adverse situations arising in neighboring India. However, Bangladesh does not officially make any statements on the internal affairs of any state. Bangladesh expects the same kind of behavior from others,” it added.
