STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A new generation is trying to take charge in Bangladesh. College students, even high school students were leaders of a movement that threw out the autocratic prime minister. Now comes the challenge of trying to run the place. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from the capital Dhaka.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: A boy scout, neckerchief in place, whistles to halt traffic at an unruly intersection. An ambulance is coming.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMBULANCE WAILING)
HADID: About a dozen students race to all four sides of the intersection. They use sticks and whistles to halt motorcyclists, double-decker buses, rickshaws adorned with flowers. The ambulance passes. This is a scene repeated across Dhaka, a city of more than 10 million - young men, madrassa boys, women in head scarves, girl scouts in braids. They keep pedestrians safe and traffic more or less flowing. They're here because the police melted away after the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country in early August. Police led the crackdown on protesting students that killed more than 300. That deadly violence transformed student protests into a movement to topple Bangladesh's longest reigning female ruler. Days on, some police are returning to work, but mostly it's students - like Sejwana Ahmad Sreshta, whistle at the ready. She's 20 and heading to college.
SEJWANA AHMAD SRESHTA: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She says, people do what we say.
You're just a citizen, just like them. Why are they listening to you?
SRESHTA: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Producer Ahmede Hussain t ranslates. They know that because of us, Bangladesh has got independence for the second time. And because of this, they're listening to us.
SRESHTA: She returns to the road she's patrolling. Rickshaw cyclists inch onto a zebra crossing. She nudges them back with her stick. Students are treated like superstars for now.
A medic has turned up. He's distributed some coupons. Now they're all taking a selfie together. A egg company came by and provided umbrellas. Now they're all carrying golden harvest, orange and green umbrellas.
We jump into a rickshaw and pass young people painting the city walls with murals celebrating their movement. We turn into a crowded alleyway. Teenagers are painting the school walls - like Murio Mata Mim, 16. Her peach head scarf and robe are speckled with paint. She and her classmates are taking a break from studying for upcoming exams by painting a water bottle with a halo and wings. It honors a student, Mir Moghdu. He was killed while giving water bottles to protesters.
MURIO MATA MIM: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Mim says she hopes as people pass by they'll remember Moghdu, who died for their freedom, but keep him alive in their memories. She says, folks underestimated Gen Z.
MIM: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Mim says, everyone now sees we can go offline and build our country, or at least tidy up.
(SOUNDBITE OF BROKEN GLASS CLINKING)
HADID: Across town, high school seniors lead an effort to clean up a torched Indian cultural center. It was burnt down by rioters in the hours after Sheikh Hasina fled to India. They were likely enraged that India is sheltering their hated former autocrat. Students salvage what they can. Old videos of Bollywood films, tattered books - they say they'll return them to Indian diplomats.
FOUAD KHAN: We are actually against this vandalism and damaging other public property.
HADID: Teenager Fouad Khan says he's trying to set an example.
KHAN: We are helping to clean this up and rebuild this place as soon as possible.
HADID: Other kids guard another important site that was burnt down in the hours after Sheikh Hasina fled the country - the museum dedicated to her father. He led Bangladesh to independence in the '70s and was celebrated as a hero. But now his legacy is indelibly linked to his daughters.
There are high school students manning the main entryway. They've let us through after I showed them my ID card. Now we're being stopped by boy and girl scouts. They've asked us to stand on the side.
But here at this museum, students don't have final say. Two military officers nearby demand to see our papers again. And that tension plays out right at the top of Bangladeshi politics, where both the military and a new interim government holds sway. It was students who pushed for the fast formation of an interim government, helmed by Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus. Two student leaders also joined, and that government has a big job. It has to undertake legal reform, so the next elected prime minister can't transform into an autocrat. It has to rebuild the police. It has to grapple with high unemployment, high food prices. And it must arrange the next elections. This is uncharted territory. Even supporters of this government worry, they can't pull this off. Recent history, after all, is replete with revolutions led by young people that went terribly wrong.
SHAHIDUL ALAM: It is a very difficult time. It's a transition that none of us have ever dealt with before.
HADID: Shahidul Alam is a prominent rights activist and writer.
ALAM: And this requires skill sets that I personally think is lacking, not just within this cabinet, but even outside of this cabinet.
HADID: And yet...
ALAM: We, as a nation, cannot afford to fail. This is a moment in history that may not be repeated.
HADID: And Bangladeshis are waiting, including Gen Zers who supported the movement to topple the former leader..
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE TOOTING)
HADID: ...Like Shahana Akhtar. She's directing traffic at a busy intersection. She's 26, wears her girl scout uniform, and the first thing she wants to tell us is that she's never had a job.
SHAHANA AKHTAR: No job.
HADID: No job.
She's thin, says she skips meals because there's no money, but she says she refuses to be married off. She doesn't want to be beholden to a husband. I ask her what she wants from this new interim government.
AKHTAR: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She says, "I want to stand on my own two feet."
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Dhaka. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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