Muhammad Yunus returns to Bangladesh to lead new interim government

Dhaka:

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh on Thursday to lead an interim government after a student-led uprising ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

Yunus touched down in Dhaka on a flight from Paris via Dubai shortly after 2pm (0800 GMT) and could be sworn in as the country’s new leader as early as Thursday evening to begin what the army chief promised would be a “beautiful democratic process “.

The prospect of Yunus, 84, standing alongside military leaders was almost unimaginable a week ago, when security forces fired deadly shots at protesters who took to the streets demanding Hasina’s resignation.

But the military attacked Hasina over the weekend and she was forced to flee to neighboring India – as millions of Bangladeshis celebrated her death.

The military then agreed to the students’ demands that Yunus – who won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his pioneering microfinance work – lead an interim government.

“I’m looking forward to going back home, seeing what’s going on and how we can organize ourselves to get out of the trouble we’re in,” Yunus told reporters in Paris as he left for Dhaka.

‘Get ready’

The veteran academic traveled abroad this year while out on bail after being sentenced to six months in prison on a charge deemed politically motivated, and for which a Dhaka court acquitted him on Wednesday.

Yunus was the target of more than 100 criminal cases and a smear campaign carried out by a state-led Islamic agency that accused him of promoting homosexuality, and the courts were accused of approving decisions by Hasina’s ousted government.

Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said he supported Yunus and hoped he would be sworn in to lead the interim government on Thursday night.

“I’m confident he will be able to lead us through a beautiful democratic process,” Waker said.

Yunus said he wants to hold elections “within a few” months.

‘Seismic moment’

Few other details about the planned government have been released, including the role of the military.

But Bangladeshis expressed hope by joining a rally in Dhaka on Wednesday for the former opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP).

“I hope that a national government will be formed with everyone’s consent in a beautiful way,” Moynul Islam Pintu told AFP.

“I hope the country is governed in a pleasant way and the police force is reformed so that it cannot harass people.”

Hasina, 76, who had been in power since 2009, resigned on Monday as hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Dhaka.

Afterwards, jubilant crowds ransacked his palace.

Monday’s events were the culmination of more than a month of unrest, which began as protests against a public job quota plan but turned into an anti-Hasina movement.

Hasina, who has been accused of rigging January’s elections and widespread human rights violations, has mobilized security forces to suppress the protests.

At least 455 people were killed in the unrest, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and hospital doctors.

“The protests are a seismic moment in Bangladesh’s history,” said Thomas Kean, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“The country was really in danger of becoming a one-party state, and through a peaceful street movement led by Gen Z students in their 20s, they were able to force her from power.”

Military movement

The military’s change of loyalty was the decisive factor in his death.

Since then, it has acceded to a number of other demands from student leaders.

The president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, a key demand of students and the BNP.

The head of the police force, who protesters blamed for leading Hasina’s crackdown, was fired on Tuesday.

The new chief, Mainul Islam, apologized Wednesday for the officers’ conduct and promised a “fair and impartial investigation” into the killings of “students, ordinary people and police officers.”

Former prime minister and BNP president Khaleda Zia, 78, was also freed from years of house arrest, while some political prisoners were released.

The military demoted some generals considered close to Hasina and fired Ziaul Ahsan, commander of the feared Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.

Police said mobs launched revenge attacks on police officers and Hasina’s allies, and also freed more than 500 inmates from a prison.

Protesters stormed parliament and set fire to TV stations. Others destroyed statues of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence hero.

Since Tuesday, however, the capital’s streets have been largely peaceful.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)