bangladesh overthrew a dictator. now it must dismantle the state she built.

sheikh hasina is gone. but the system that made her possible still holds power.

Ten months after the uprising that forced Sheikh Hasina into exile, Bangladesh finds itself in a perilous limbo. The interim government has banned her party, arrested thousands, and launched what it calls a process of justice. Yet in the courtrooms of Dhaka, where lawyers face harassment and thousands remain detained under sweeping charges, there are growing concerns that the revolution is echoing the repressive practices it once opposed. Rather than prioritizing systemic reform, the interim regime appears increasingly focused on retribution. Rhetoric demanding severe punishment for former regime figures, though historically rooted in calls for justice, now risks blurring the line between accountability and vengeance. The urgent question is whether Hasina's ouster marked a true break from autocracy, or merely a transfer of its mechanisms.

The stakes are not just about who rules. They are about whether the machinery of repression that upheld Hasina's regime will be dismantled, or simply rebranded.

Protesters gather atop the prime minister’s residence in Dhaka on August 5, 2024, following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government.