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Bangladesh PM Hasina has resigned and left the country, media reports say

21 points by testrun 2y ago

blackhawkC17 2y ago
Let’s hope a democratic ruler takes over in the long run, and definitely not an Islamist. Otherwise, going from autocracy to military rule is like hating the frying pan and jumping into the fire.
screye 2y ago
I'm not optimistic. Every leader of independent Bangladesh was an islamist, dictator or both. Sheikh Hasina was the exception. I hope this transition is peaceful and democratic.But looking at the opposition, I'm not optimistic. Between Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Srilanka....that's a lot of recent instability in the subcontinent.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- t_mahmood 2y ago
  What are you saying! Hasina is the worse dictator Bangladesh has ever seen! Yes she came through a election initially, but quickly converted to a autocrat in matter of few years, after the pillkhana massacre happened. She murdered 400+ in a matter of week, and intended to continue if the official had not rejected. And in the first week she killed 216+ of which 75% had no political affiliation, and most if them was aged between 17 to 25. Ershad, the first dictator killed 300+ in span of a year. We don't even know how much she killed in her total regime
  - skissane 2y ago
    > Hasina is the worse dictator Bangladesh has ever seen! It depends on what your criteria for "worse dictator" is. Compare a secular dictator who kills many political opponents, but leaves those who don't oppose them politically free to live their lives mostly in peace, to a religious dictator who kills significantly less people, but tries hard to force everyone to follow strict religious law. Some people will say the religious one is worst than the secular one, despite having killed more people. Or compare a dictator who kills many political opponents, but is tolerant of ethnic and religious minorities so long as they don't politically oppose the regime, to a dictator who kills fewer people overall, but subjects ethnic and religious minorities to harsh (but mostly non-lethal) oppression. It reminds me of the debate over Bashar al-Assad. I'd rather be ruled by Sheikh Hasina than Ali Khamenei, even if it somehow turned out that she killed more people than he has.
    - t_mahmood 2y ago
      How about no dictator at all. You rather want to live in a life if fear, without no guarantees of your life, or never knowing when you land in her secret prison for rest of your life, be her guest. But not here. And definitely not under a child murderer. She didn't just kill political opponents, she killed students, and general people, or anyone that goes against her. And she have few hundreds of political prisoners. And how do you know you are not her enemy? You don't have to do much to be her enemy. And she's a enabler of corrupted goons. And also no freedom of speech. Simple, one of her goons think he needs to punish you, he just say this person said something offensive against her or her daddy or any of her family, ta-da you land in the jail. And congrats, it's a hell on earth, enjoy your stay. Have you lived the way we lived last 3 weeks? You surely haven't. She destroyed our education sector, and financial institution. So no, we don't want her, nor any dictator.
  - screye 2y ago
    Given that dozens of her extended family was assassinated on 1 day, Bangladesh started with a high bar for worst dicator. Her recent election was a sham, but she doesn't cross the that bar. For the protests, my understanding is that most deaths came from rubber bullets and fairly violent fights between police and protestors. The line between protestor and revolutionary was fairly thin. I don't mean to minimize what was clearly a non-democratic act. But, almost every violent riot involves the deaths of 17-25 year olds. That is the primary demographic for all violent acts everywhere. It is grim but not unique. Similarly, political affiliations deliberately difficult to identify. I know emotions are high, so I'll limit my cynicism. I hope Bangladesh is able to find a stable & secular democratic alternative.
    - t_mahmood 2y ago
      She did this for last 3 elections https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Yp8DSkthin2SCsug/ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Yp8DSkthin2SCsug/ Here's one for you, "rubber" bullets. Here's some toy guns for you https://www.facebook.com/saerzulkarnain/videos/2782749641879507/ https://www.facebook.com/saerzulkarnain/videos/2782749641879... There are many other videos available in Facebook. Students were peaceful, from the beginning, and the were still peaceful throughout, things only went violent when police and the government goons started attacking them
more_corn 2y ago
The students protested an unfair quota system. Protests were met with violence. Government was toppled. People don’t just rise up. They rise up to combat injustice. You want peace? Don’t push people past their breaking point. When they have legitimate concerns listen to them. When they assemble to shout don’t escalate to violence. Because governments are fragile and rule only so long as the people let them.
ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
Its amazing that the two religious nations Pakistan and Bangladesh have been failed states and the one secular country India has made it. A very clear A/B test which shows mixing governance and religion is a terrible idea. So it is strange that India is now moving towards religion and more importantly we are doing this here in the US? Did Christopher Hitchens teach us nothing?
- skissane 2y ago
  Bangladesh overtook India in GDP per capita since 2019, so at least by that measure it has been more successful than India. Of course, that was before the recent crisis. I don’t know what that is going to do to GDP per capita figures, but I’d be surprised if Bangladesh didn’t go backwards as a result of this. Also, calling Bangladesh a “religious nation” ignores that Sheikh Hasina’s rule was fundamentally secular, even though she never sought to change the religious provisions in the national constitution, she largely governed as if they weren’t there.
- t_mahmood 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - nsenifty 2y ago
    > and people drinks cow piss to cure COVID This is a false stereotype that has no place in HN. Yes, there are people who do that, but I bet a similar number of people per capita do that in Bangladesh too, we're not that different. It's like saying how can America be so developed if people still believe the earth is flat.
maxglute 2y ago
Did she went to India because they don't have a presidential plane to go further? Assume she has graft grains stashed in UAE or UK where she has family MP. Would India want to host her long term?

21 points by testrun 2y ago

Let’s hope a democratic ruler takes over in the long run, and definitely not an Islamist. Otherwise, going from autocracy to military rule is like hating the frying pan and jumping into the fire.

screye 2y ago

I'm not optimistic. Every leader of independent Bangladesh was an islamist, dictator or both. Sheikh Hasina was the exception. I hope this transition is peaceful and democratic.But looking at the opposition, I'm not optimistic. Between Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Srilanka....that's a lot of recent instability in the subcontinent.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
t_mahmood 2y ago
What are you saying! Hasina is the worse dictator Bangladesh has ever seen! Yes she came through a election initially, but quickly converted to a autocrat in matter of few years, after the pillkhana massacre happened. She murdered 400+ in a matter of week, and intended to continue if the official had not rejected. And in the first week she killed 216+ of which 75% had no political affiliation, and most if them was aged between 17 to 25. Ershad, the first dictator killed 300+ in span of a year. We don't even know how much she killed in her total regime
- skissane 2y ago
  > Hasina is the worse dictator Bangladesh has ever seen! It depends on what your criteria for "worse dictator" is. Compare a secular dictator who kills many political opponents, but leaves those who don't oppose them politically free to live their lives mostly in peace, to a religious dictator who kills significantly less people, but tries hard to force everyone to follow strict religious law. Some people will say the religious one is worst than the secular one, despite having killed more people. Or compare a dictator who kills many political opponents, but is tolerant of ethnic and religious minorities so long as they don't politically oppose the regime, to a dictator who kills fewer people overall, but subjects ethnic and religious minorities to harsh (but mostly non-lethal) oppression. It reminds me of the debate over Bashar al-Assad. I'd rather be ruled by Sheikh Hasina than Ali Khamenei, even if it somehow turned out that she killed more people than he has.
  - t_mahmood 2y ago
    How about no dictator at all. You rather want to live in a life if fear, without no guarantees of your life, or never knowing when you land in her secret prison for rest of your life, be her guest. But not here. And definitely not under a child murderer. She didn't just kill political opponents, she killed students, and general people, or anyone that goes against her. And she have few hundreds of political prisoners. And how do you know you are not her enemy? You don't have to do much to be her enemy. And she's a enabler of corrupted goons. And also no freedom of speech. Simple, one of her goons think he needs to punish you, he just say this person said something offensive against her or her daddy or any of her family, ta-da you land in the jail. And congrats, it's a hell on earth, enjoy your stay. Have you lived the way we lived last 3 weeks? You surely haven't. She destroyed our education sector, and financial institution. So no, we don't want her, nor any dictator.
- screye 2y ago
  Given that dozens of her extended family was assassinated on 1 day, Bangladesh started with a high bar for worst dicator. Her recent election was a sham, but she doesn't cross the that bar. For the protests, my understanding is that most deaths came from rubber bullets and fairly violent fights between police and protestors. The line between protestor and revolutionary was fairly thin. I don't mean to minimize what was clearly a non-democratic act. But, almost every violent riot involves the deaths of 17-25 year olds. That is the primary demographic for all violent acts everywhere. It is grim but not unique. Similarly, political affiliations deliberately difficult to identify. I know emotions are high, so I'll limit my cynicism. I hope Bangladesh is able to find a stable & secular democratic alternative.
  - t_mahmood 2y ago
    She did this for last 3 elections https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Yp8DSkthin2SCsug/ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Yp8DSkthin2SCsug/ Here's one for you, "rubber" bullets. Here's some toy guns for you https://www.facebook.com/saerzulkarnain/videos/2782749641879507/ https://www.facebook.com/saerzulkarnain/videos/2782749641879... There are many other videos available in Facebook. Students were peaceful, from the beginning, and the were still peaceful throughout, things only went violent when police and the government goons started attacking them

more_corn 2y ago

The students protested an unfair quota system. Protests were met with violence. Government was toppled. People don’t just rise up. They rise up to combat injustice. You want peace? Don’t push people past their breaking point. When they have legitimate concerns listen to them. When they assemble to shout don’t escalate to violence. Because governments are fragile and rule only so long as the people let them.

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago

Its amazing that the two religious nations Pakistan and Bangladesh have been failed states and the one secular country India has made it. A very clear A/B test which shows mixing governance and religion is a terrible idea. So it is strange that India is now moving towards religion and more importantly we are doing this here in the US? Did Christopher Hitchens teach us nothing?

skissane 2y ago
Bangladesh overtook India in GDP per capita since 2019, so at least by that measure it has been more successful than India. Of course, that was before the recent crisis. I don’t know what that is going to do to GDP per capita figures, but I’d be surprised if Bangladesh didn’t go backwards as a result of this. Also, calling Bangladesh a “religious nation” ignores that Sheikh Hasina’s rule was fundamentally secular, even though she never sought to change the religious provisions in the national constitution, she largely governed as if they weren’t there.
t_mahmood 2y ago
[flagged]
- nsenifty 2y ago
  > and people drinks cow piss to cure COVID This is a false stereotype that has no place in HN. Yes, there are people who do that, but I bet a similar number of people per capita do that in Bangladesh too, we're not that different. It's like saying how can America be so developed if people still believe the earth is flat.

maxglute 2y ago

Did she went to India because they don't have a presidential plane to go further? Assume she has graft grains stashed in UAE or UK where she has family MP. Would India want to host her long term?