State of Emergency in Cold Dhaka.

I returned from hot Goa at 36 °C to chilly Dhaka at 18°C during the day and even colder at night. As a lot of people sleep on the streets here many have sadly died due to the cold. I gave some of the kiddies some socks the other day to keep their feet warm at night.

On Thursday night a ‘state of emergency’ was declared in Bangladesh. We had a curfew of 11pm, according to the guards in my apartment anyone found on the streets after this time is shot - I later found out not shot but arrested. Now the curfew has been lifted but the state of emergency is still in force. This is because the country was about to be under a series of blockades once again to pressure the president to resign and postpone the 22nd Jan elections due to a dodgy electoral list. International pressure had mounted to postpone the elections, especially from big Bangladesh donors like European Commission and other nations. The president did resign and the elections have now been postponed. The state of emergency is while the country sorts itself out with a new leader and so the country doesn’t panic with further blockades that cause serious economic and social damage.