We have witnessed a seismic event in Bangladesh, that no one could have predicted till the very last moment. The unprecedented sight of a Bangladeshi head of government being airlifted out of the country in the face of massive student protests that started out over a provision for unreasonable quotas in government jobs but eventually snowballed into a mass uprising against an undemocratic dispensation and all the ills that attached to it over 15 years, stunned the entire world.

Yes, a picture was starting to emerge by last Friday, August 2nd, that the situation was slipping out of control for the woman described as Bangladesh's 'Iron Lady' by The Economist just last year. Another weekend had descended into bloodshed and clashes between the protesters, by then the students had been joined by various sections of society on the streets, and enjoyed almost the full support of the population, against the ruling party men and law enforcement agencies. This surely couldn't go on much longer. But what was the government doing to resolve the crisis? Students were still being arrested en masse at various university campuses, or student dormitories. We learned that police were filing cases absolving themselves of all responsibility for the countless killings of July 16-20, and later. We learned that a 16-year-old had been jailed for twelve days in the case filed over the killing of Abu Sayed, the first martyr of the movement whose cold-blooded killing by police was captured on a video that probably the entire nation had seen by then.

It was clear that the only way the crisis could be resolved at that point, through accountability for the students' killings, was not on the government's agenda. The official line, disclosed by the home minister, was that 'no one had died in police firing'. No ministers or university administrators were removed. And the prime minister was not going to apologise. The final crisis could have been avoided by availing these options - even some of them. But the government chose none. It was only then that the students moved to their 1-point demand. Once that happened, the game was up.

Now we must look forward to reimagine the nation under new leadership, and we can thank the students for choosing a most worthy figure in Professor Md Yunus - despite all the pressures he faced under the last government, still the most acceptable personality to us all to guide us in this process. The ideals of the Liberation War must still be our lodestar in this process. The task at hand is not so much to build from scratch, as it is to find our way back to these ideals - particularly democracy. In the course of the last 15 years, over three election cycles, we have drifted quite some distance from democratic ideals, and the entire state structure will need to be cleansed of the trappings of autocracy. The Army has so far handled the situation delicately, and sensitively under the leadership of General Waker-uz-Zaman. Make no mistake, it will have an important role to play in buttressing the interim government under Prof. Yunus.

The disorder we have seen since the collapse of the government, with the police effectively disbanding itself, does not augur well in the eyes of the world. But possibly only Bangladeshis know the suppressed state from which they have emerged. Only they now hold the keys to building a better future for themselves, by remaining united and resolute in the days ahead.