Arrested 6 years ago, Bangladeshi journalist reflects on prime minister resigning

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Early this morning the longtime prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, boarded a military helicopter, fleeing her country. She resigned after 15 years in power, after the deadliest protests in her country's history. What began in early July as peaceful student demonstrations against a quota system for government jobs quickly turned into a broad and violent movement for Hasina's removal. She is considered authoritarian by many.

Earlier today we spoke with Shahidul Alam, a photojournalist, writer and activist based in Dhaka. When I asked him to describe what's happening today, it took him back to this very day in 2018, when he was arrested for criticizing the Hasina government while covering student protests back then.

SHAHIDUL ALAM: Exactly six years ago, on 5 of August 2018, is when burly security people came, picked me up, handcuffed me, blindfolded me, took me away, and I was tortured that night.

CHANG: Oh, my goodness.

ALAM: So it's ironic that this is the very day that she has to flee from the country. But today it was curfew. We decided to brave the curfew. We went out into the streets, a group of us, and the police opened fire. Three of us were wounded, had to be hospitalized. We decided we would carry on, and an hour later, she was gone. Really, this was spectacular, the way it turned out.

CHANG: How much has the mood shifted since she's fled the country?

ALAM: It's complete euphoria. I have never seen something like this since the war of liberation in 1971. In 1971, before the crackdown, we used to say Joy Bangla. That was the rallying cry we had. And I was on a rickshaw, and I said Joy Bangla to a friend on the street, and my rickshawala (ph) would not take my fare because I'd said Joy Bangla. Today, the rickshawala did not take my fare, absolutely insisted, and they are actually very hard up right now. They've struggled just to make ends meet. Yet this man would not take my fare. He felt I was part of the group that brought this liberation.

CHANG: May I ask if we can go back a little bit? Because we mentioned, these protests, they began peacefully - right? - in response to a quota system to government jobs that demonstrators said favored people with connections to the prime minister's party. But the protests turned into some of the largest most violent protests in Bangladesh's history. Why do you think these demonstrations intensified so immensely?

ALAM: I think it was triggered initially by the arrogance of the prime minister, the fact that she called him razakars, which is collaborators of the freedom movement, and that is the worst thing you can say. It's like calling a German person a Nazi or something of that sort. So that enraged the students, obviously. But their demand at that time was that she apologize.

And that perhaps would have simmered things down, but she wasn't going to do it. And rather than apologizing, she and her crony ministers started spewing vitriolic language and actually threatening that the students would go out after them and should take revenge and handle it violently, which is exactly what they did. So it then led to killings. They wanted a funeral. They weren't allowed to have a funeral. And it just escalated from there. It was complete arrogance.

CHANG: Well, then let me ask you, because the army chief is leading the effort to form an interim government, are you concerned the transition could lead to even more instability in Bangladesh?

ALAM: Well, there was violence today, pockets of violence, but a lot of people, very responsible people and people in good positions have come up asking for calm, asking for peace. And the student themselves recognize it. So I hope that will not happen. But the point is, over the last 15 years, what this government has done, people have been disappeared, people have been killed, people have been tortured. And even today, there are thousands of people in jail who have no reason to be in jail. So that anger is there, and I think it's human emotion. I wouldn't be surprised if some of that anger is taken out against the perpetrators, but we will need to play a much more responsible role. That can't be the way this country goes.

CHANG: Shahidul Alam, a photojournalist, writer and activist based in Dhaka. Thank you very much for being with us.

ALAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.