Illustration by RENE ELEVERA
After three terms as Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wazed has had both good and bad times at the helm of a country of 162 million people.
But the recent protests over road safety can easily be the most ignominious she has faced in over 40 years as a politician.
The protests from July 29 to Aug. 8 were sparked by the deaths in Dhaka of two high school students hit by a bus operated by an unlicensed driver who was racing to collect passengers.
The demands were quite simple and easily addressed by new legislation, but were made complicated by the subsequent arrests of people, including students, who had the courage to post their demands for safer roads on social media.
Bangladeshis are now asking: If she had the righteousness to fight crimes against humanity in 1971, why can’t she deal with people’s right to demand public safety?