IslamiCity
Listen PodCasts, Live Quran, Watch Videos @VideoHub
Across the globe, many countries remain under the full control of dictators and autocratic rulers. Bangladesh, too, was seized and brutally governed by a fascist and authoritarian leader-Sheikh Hasina. She made every effort to retain power, reportedly until just 40 minutes before fleeing the country.
For fifteen and a half years, she ruled with brutality, denying legal rights to those who dared to raise their voices against her oppressive regime. During her tenure, thousands of people were allegedly killed in efforts to consolidate and prolong her authority. She employed every possible means to maintain her grip on power, but ultimately, she was forced to leave the country due to a youth-led mass uprising against her tyranny and atrocities.
In this work, I have illustrated the geographical location of Bangladesh on the world map, the structure of its education system, the emergence of dictatorship in the country, the factors that led Sheikh Hasina to become a dictator, her crackdown on the ʽUlamāʼ, the outbreak of the revolution, and the destination to which Sheikh Hasina fled.
However, her father was assassinated by army personals because of several reasons. Such as Sheikh Hasina's younger brother named Sheikh Kamal sexually harassed one of army personals' wife whose name was major Shariful Haque Dalim and his wife's name was Nimmi Chowdhury. Major Dalim went to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to lodge a complaint against his son, but he did not listen to him well. His allegation was not accepted to him. Rather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demoted him from his position in the army. This was one of the reasons why the army got angry against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Second reason: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established BAKSAL (Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League) and banned all other political parties of the country. He declared himself the only ruler of the country who will be leading the country as the uncontested prime minister of Bangladesh until his death. He deprived all other political parties of the rights of political exercise. Such political move of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made people extremely angry with him.
Third reason: The leaders and supporters of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's party "Bangladesh Awami League" looted wealth and property of general people. Even his son Sheikh Kamal was involved with Bank robbery. People's wealth and property were not safe in the entire country to the supporters and leaders of Awami League. They forcefully used to snatch away people's belongings.
Fourth reason: Due to such looting of public property and wealth, illegal amalgamation of money and extra judicial killing by Awami League supporters; an extreme famine engulfed the entire country in 1974. As a result, 1.5 million people died when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman himself was fully in power. To suppress the people's uprising against him and his party men, he formed a special force called Rakkhi Bahini (army of protection) to serve his cause and strengthen his power. Whoever used to raise their voice against his power, he used to utilize his Rakkhi Bahini to neutralize them. It has been proven that 30,000 people were killed by Rakkhi Bahini during that time.
Due to such atmosphere and circumstance, the removal of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from power was the demand of time. His reign created an extreme political crisis in Bangladesh. He did not use to listen to anyone. After having the power of the country, he became furious and undefeated. He even did not use to care about his nearest friends' suggestions as well. Some of his friends tried to make him understand and reminded him that for such reason they did not fight against the Pakistani army, and for such reason they did not liberate the country. From his close friends who tried to persuade him, Taj Uddin Ahmed was one of them. He was one of the nearest friends of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and he was the first Prime minister of Bangladesh from April 17, 1971, to January 12, 1972, too, when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was imprisoned in Pakistan. On August 15, 1975, he was assassinated with most of his family members in his Dhanmondi-32 number residence in consequence of atrocities, leadership failure and mismanagement during his ruling.
When she entered Bangladesh, she was fully covered with burka, hijab and carrying a tasbih in her hand. During her entry to the country, she tried best to show people that she was one of the complete Muslims and she loved Islam and its ideology, which majority people of Bangladesh believe in. Her entry to the country amazed everyone and compelled them to believe that she was a perfect Muslimah. Because of her religious dress up and get up, a great portion of people put their trust in her and gave her the place to pursue politics in the country. People did not know that Sheikh Hasina came to Bangladesh to take the revenge of her father's assassination. Those who killed her father, she literally came to punish them through grabbing the power of the country which later has been proven.
She was elected as the prime minister of Bangladesh for the first time in 1996 and finished her tenure in 2001. She again became the Prime minister of Bangladesh in 2009 through the foreign conspiracy, especially the conspiracy of India. When she came to power, she planned to strengthen and prolong it. She and her party men planned to be in power until 2041 in assistance of India. Hence, she took all sorts of initiatives and plans to implement that. According to India's plan, she firstly killed numerous patriotic top army officers of Bangladesh in 2009. 57 major generals of Bangladesh army she deliberately killed through creating a clash between BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) and Bangladesh army, which she propagated as BDR Revolt. India and Sheikh Hasina thought that if these patriotic army generals were alive, they would not be able to control the power of the country easily. Hence, they firstly killed the army officers who could be the potential threat to them. In the name of clash between the BDR and army, they intentionally killed 57 dynamic army officers and 9 BDR solders along with 2 wives of army officers and 3 pedestrians.
Additionally, to consolidate the power, Sheikh Hasina killed huge number political leaders too. Some of them were from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) like Salahuddin Qader Chowdhury, Abdul Alim, and majority of them were from Bangladesh Jamate-Islami. From Jamate-Islami leaders whom Hasina killed through international crime tribunal, they were Abdul Qader Mollah, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, Matiur Rahman Nizami, Muhammad Kamruzzaman, Mir Quasem Ali, Professor Golam Azam and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi are mentionable. Hasina thought that if these leaders were alive, her illegal consolidation of power would not be possible, and she would not be able to stay in power as long as she lives. In fear of that, she murdered them purposefully labeling them as war criminals of 1971 war that was taken place between Bangladesh and Pakistan. She brought numerous false accusations against them that they were involved with gang-rap, looting of people's wealth and property, collaborators of Pakistani army in Bangladesh etc during the liberation war. Labeling them with the title "Rajakar", she killed all of them by hanging through establishing a so-called tribunal, which is called International Criminal Court (ICT).
Sheikh Hasina did not provide the family members of victims with any chance to face the trials fairly. She dominated them and other opposition leaders with enforced disappearance, extra judicial killings, false cases and other types of threats, which compelled them to be silent or leave the country. She forcefully prepared some especial people to witness against them at the court. Some of the witnesses were given extra facilities and a huge amount of money etc in order to make them agree to give the false witness to the court, and they also did that. There was not a single person who could raise his voice against her such cruelties and self-motivated crimes. Whover used to talk against her crimes and irregularities, her special force like Rab, DB, DGFI, Police and other type of law enforcement agencies used to kidnap him and put him into Ayna Ghor (a hidden torture cell), or they used to kill him in somewhere far from the main city and used to throw the bodies into rivers or any jungles.
To suppress the opposition leaders, she used her party's supporters. The party has a student political wing, which used to assist her party in schools, colleges, madrasahs and universities across the country. The student political wing's name is Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). This party was given all sorts of power in order to suppress the students of opposition parties at the educational institutions. Students who were involved with this party were involved in all sorts of illegal activities and crimes. For instance, they used to sexually harass the female students on campuses and used to eat food at the restaurants of academic institutions without making any payment. Consequently, numerous owners of restaurants became bankrupt too.
Among other crimes of Chhatra League was killing. Whenever, anyone used to talk against their heinous and abhorrent acts committed across the university campuses and its beyond, they used to beat him until death. If they knew any student from opposition parties at the halls active in politics or seemed to be against their ideology, they used to call him to Gono Room (public room) to physically torture and sometimes ensure his death. For instance, at BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Teachnology), there was a student named Abrar Fahad, who posted on Facebook ID his opinion against unfair water allocation between Bangladesh and India. India will enjoy most of the facilities of the river's water although the river belongs to Bangladesh. When Abrar Fahad posted such views on Facebook against this agreement, they called him to the Gono room and beat him until he dies. Some other classmates of Abrar Fahad said that his death might have been related to his Facebook posts.
Those who killed Abrar Fahad at the hostel of his university on October 6, 2019, they were from his classmates and who also were the followers of Bangladesh Chhatra League. Just because of political cause, his classmates killed him at his own hostel. During the entire 15 and half year's rule of Sheikh Hasina, all educational institutions of the country were totally under the control of Chhatra League. Sheikh Hasina allowed them to reserve all sorts of guns, knives, Chapati, pistols and other lethal weapons in their rooms, which they utilized to suppress the students on campuses. Along with this, all sorts of alcohols and other similar ingredients Chhatra League used to preserve in their hostel's rooms.
On top of that, Sheikh Hasina's other political wing called Bangladesh Awami Jubo Leage also was involved in all sorts of crimes across the country. The yearly budget which the government used to allocate for local constituencies, major portion of it, Awami Jubo League and Chhatra League used to illegally consume. Very little portion of the budget they used to implement for the development of local areas. If any shopkeeper or businessman refuses to provide extortion, they used to vandalize his shop and destroy his business or used to even kill him or at least did not allow him to continue his business until he agrees with their illegal conditions and demands. There was no any justice across the country. It was like might is right. Within one and half decades of Sheikh Hasina's reign, she never arranged a free, fair and transparent election. No voter of opposition parties could go to the vote center to vote for their selected candidates. Hasina's regime arranged a total of four times elections in the country, but no opposition party's voter could vote for his party. Rather, she used all her party men and law enforcement agencies to provide the fake votes for her, and they did so during the night. All sorts of evidence and proofs of false votes are still found on YouTube and in the newspapers of Bangladesh. Despite of such huge crimes, she was in power because of India's unconditional support for her. At the end, she became fully a dictator. That is how she wanted to prolong her power until 2041 although even 5% voters did not vote for her.
Estimates of the death toll vary widely: some political parties claimed as many as 2,500 were killed; the human rights organization Odhikar reported 61 fatalities; and the Ministry of Home Affairs acknowledged 28 deaths. The operation was officially named "Flush Out." Following the incident, the government allegedly concealed all evidence-cleaning the area to remove traces of blood and restricting media coverage. Independent reporting was suppressed, and several television channels, including Diganta TV, Islamic TV, and Channel 1, were shut down. Journalists also faced deadly consequences. For example, Sagar and Runi, a husband-and-wife team working for Maasranga Television, were murdered in their home under suspicious circumstances.
From student leaders to senior figures in the Awami League, corruption and money laundering were rampant. Every level of leadership was allegedly involved in illicit financial activities. Even Sheikh Hasina herself claimed that her household assistant had embezzled $34 million in state funds, leading to his dismissal. Over the course of fifteen and a half years, local and central leaders of her party reportedly amassed vast wealth and property through abuse of power. Members of Parliament and ministers were accused of transferring large sums of money abroad. According to Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), an estimated Tk. 1.46 lakh crore was paid in bribes for services during the Awami League's 15-year rule-a staggering figure that reflects the depth of corruption and mismanagement across all sectors. Another major source of public outrage was the quota system in government jobs. Only 44% of positions were merit-based, while 56% were reserved under various quotas. Notably, 30% of jobs were allocated to the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters from the 1971 War of Independence. The Hasina government was accused of misusing this system to favor party loyalists, effectively sidelining qualified candidates. Although the government claimed the quota system benefited deserving individuals, in practice, it allegedly served partisan interests.
In 2018, following student protests, Sheikh Hasina abolished the quota system through an executive order in cooperation with the High Court. However, in 2024, she reversed this decision and ordered the court to reinstate the quota system-an act that reignited public anger and catalyzed a nationwide revolution.
The uprising began in early July 2024 and intensified on July 14, following Hasina's return from China. During a press briefing, she insulted student protesters by calling them "children and grandchildren of Rajakars"-a term referring to collaborators with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war. This inflammatory remark transformed the quota protest into a full-scale revolution, ultimately leading to her ouster and flight to India. The revolution was led by youth activists including Nahid Islam, Jahidul Islam, Asif Mahmud, Hasnat Abdullah, Sargis Alam, Mahfuz Alam, Sadik Kayem, Atik Mujahid, Shamim Hamidi, and others from across the country. They organized under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Students' Movement.
In an attempt to suppress the uprising, Sheikh Hasina ordered law enforcement agencies-including the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), police, and segments of the military-to open fire on protesters. Thousands were reportedly killed, including students, teachers from schools, madrasahs, and universities, as well as parents and citizens from all walks of life. The movement gained momentum despite the government's efforts to shut down mobile internet for 11 days and impose repeated curfews. The revolution reached its peak on August 5, 2024, when citizens defied curfew and marched toward Hasina's residence, Gono Bhaban. When the procession was just 40 minutes away, she fled to India aboard a military aircraft, submitting her resignation to Army Chief General Waker Uz-Zaman. Before departing, she reportedly ordered the army to take action against the protesters, but the army chief refused and advised her to prioritize her safety. With no other option, she left the country.
The youth revolution in Bangladesh stands as a milestone for all patriotic and freedom-seeking people across the world who are struggling against dictators and authoritarian rulers to liberate their nations and restore peaceful governance-one that can guide their homelands toward lasting peace and prosperity. Bangladesh and its citizens endured one of the most brutal fascist regimes in modern history, the likes of which few other nations have experienced. As Sheikh Hasina's reign extended, her brutality and crimes against humanity intensified. Dictators, once in power, often forget that their rule is temporary. They fail to realize that their oppressive actions will ultimately lead to disgrace and suffering. By the time they recognize the consequences of their deeds, it is too late for redemption. In the end, they are remembered not as leaders, but as disgraced figures. History records their names in words of insult and hatred. They are forever regarded as cursed individuals, and until the Day of Judgment, they will be treated by humanity with indignity and humiliation.
To all dictators and autocratic rulers around the world, we say: the earth belongs to Allah (SWT). It is He who decides who shall rule and who shall be ruled. It is He who grants dominion over nations. Let all oppressors and wrongdoers be reminded Allah (SWT) does not love them, nor does He guide them to the path of truth. Those who are unjustly oppressed and suffer under tyranny, Allah (SWT) elevates them, making them leaders and inheritors of the earth, as He declared:
"And We wanted to confer favor upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders, and make them inheritors." (Surah al-Qasas, 28:5)
Belayet Hossen is a final-year PhD student at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
Can Bangladesh-India Relations Rise Above Bias and Islamophobia?
