The recent revelations surrounding former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina mark a dark and defining chapter in the political evolution of South Asia. Once celebrated as a champion of democracy and the architect of Bangladesh’s economic rise, Sheikh Hasina now stands accused of personally authorising one of the most brutal peacetime crackdowns in the region’s recent history. The allegations, backed by verified audio recordings and forensic analysis, point to direct orders from Sheikh Hasina to use lethal force against student-led protesters last year.

These protests, initially triggered by grievances over civil service quotas, quickly snowballed into a national uprising that exposed the fault lines in Bangladesh’s governance. What followed was not a miscalculated overreaction by local law enforcement ~ it was a coordinated, top-down use of state violence that left, by some accounts, more than a 1,000 dead on the........

© The Statesman