Dhaka - Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wept on Thursday as she surveyed the destruction wrought by days of deadly unrest, as student leaders weighed the future of the protests that sparked the disorder. Last week’s violence killed at least 193 people, including several police officers, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in one of the biggest upheavals of Hasina’s 15-year tenure. The unrest was precipitated by protests against a public jobs quota scheme that critics say gives preference to allies of Hasina’s ruling party.
Thousands of troops are still patrolling cities and a nationwide internet shutdown remains largely in effect, although clashes have subsided since protest leaders announced a temporary halt to new demonstrations. Hasina, 76, spent the morning surveying destruction in the capital Dhaka, where the commuter rail network connecting the sprawling megacity of 20 million people was shut down after mob attacks.
“Over 15 years, I’ve built this country,” she told reporters, condemning protesters for damaging city infrastructure. “What didn’t I do for the people? “Who has benefitted from what we have done?” she said. “Do I ride on the metro? Does the government only ride? Do our ministers only ride? Or is it in fact the general public that rides?” Pictures released by Hasina’s office showed her flanked by an entourage and weeping at the sight of a vandalised metro station in an outlying Dhaka suburb.