Bangladesh metro back on track after protests end

Bangladesh’s metro railway in the notoriously congested capital Dhaka resumed on Sunday, more than a month after it was closed during the peak of student-led protests that eventually toppled the prime minister.

Much in the troubled South Asian nation remains in political turmoil since the revolution that ousted Sheikh Hasina and ended her 15-year-long iron-fisted rule, but on Sunday, the trains at least were back on track.

Dhaka is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, and the railway is a critical transport link in the sprawling megacity of some 20 million people.

Banker Shaheen Sultana said she was delighted her commute to work was a “relaxed” affair after weeks of car-clogged gridlock on the roads.

“I am very happy that it is working again,” 40-year-old Sultana said, as she exited a station near her workplace in the city’s commercial heart. “It is a great relief.”

The elevated train network was closed in mid-July during student-led protests.

In the deadly violence – which would see hundreds of people killed until Hasina quit and fled the country by helicopter on August 5 – the stations were vandalised by a mob.

RETURN TO NORMAL

The resumption of metro services is a key sign of a return to normal daily life.

Its reopening was ordered by the new caretaker government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84.

“In the absence of the metro I had to take the bus to work,” said Kaosar Khan, a speech therapist at a private hospital in the city.

“I faced massive traffic snarls,” Khan, 25, added. “It used to take two hours on the bus, but with the metro, I can reach my destination in 15 minutes”.

Hasina’s government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.

But Dhaka’s metro, inaugurated in 2022, is seen by many as one of the most significant infrastructure endeavours of Hasina’s otherwise tarnished tenure.

It was an instant hit in the congested city where commuting by road is a source of massive frustration.

‘WHY HURT THE NATION?’

Local researchers say the capital’s economy loses upwards of $3 billion each year in lost work time due to traffic jams, often worsened by regular street protests and monsoonal downpours.

Pictures released by Hasina’s office while she was still in office, showed her weeping at the sight of a vandalised metro station in an outlying Dhaka suburb.

Hasina had called the line a “matter of great pride” when she opened it in December 2022, and during the protests, she was furious that it had been attacked.

“Who has benefitted… Do I ride on the metro?” she asked at the time.

But others said Hasina’s government had exploited the attack on the metro, to shut it down as a warning.

“They wanted to say if you go against us, you will have to suffer the consequences,” said Mohammad Hridoy, 28, a technology worker waiting at the platform.

“The shutdown seemed more deliberate than necessitated by circumstances.”

On Sunday, some passengers said the metro attack was a blot on the reputation of the protesters.

“Why hurt the nation and destroy public property?” said Sharmin Sultana, 55, a housewife travelling with her young daughter, a yellow scarf covering her head.

“We should protect our national property, irrespective of party politics.”

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