Interim government taking shape in Bangladesh; Muhammad Yunus to lead

Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus will head Bangladesh’s interim government, the press secretary of President Mohammed Shahabuddin. Abedin told AP on Tuesday, after consultations with student leaders who spearheaded protests that forced former premier Sheikh Hasina out of office.

Soon after Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday, Bangladesh Army chief Gen Waker-uz-Zaman took on the responsibility of running the country and said an interim government would be formed shortly. There has been no clarity from the military on when this set-up would be created or who would lead it.

Yunus, 84, who is in Paris for a medical procedure, told AFP in a written statement he was “honoured by the trust of the protesters” who wanted him to lead the interim government. He also called for free elections to ensure enduring peace.

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“If action is needed in Bangladesh, for my country and for the courage of my people, then I will take it,” said Yunus, known as the “banker to the poorest of the poor” for pioneering micro-credit schemes through the Grameen Bank that helped lift millions out of poverty.

“The interim government is only the beginning,” he said. “Lasting peace will only come with free elections. Without elections, there will be no change.”

Yunus said the youth of Bangladesh had “voiced their need for change” and Hasina had “heard them by leaving the country”.

Though acclaimed abroad, Yunus faced more than 100 criminal cases and was put on trial by Hasina’s government. He maintained the charges were politically motivated. The government forced Yunus out of Grameen Bank five years after he and the institution received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He was constantly hounded by the government and Hasina repeatedly launched attacks on him.

On Tuesday, leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, who led protests against Hasina in recent weeks, demanded that Yunus should head the interim government. Nahid Islam, a national coordinator of the movement, said in a video posted on social media: “No government other than the one proposed by the students will be accepted. As we have said, no military government or one backed by the military or a government of fascists, will be accepted.”

People close to Yunus told the media he had spoken to the student leaders and would return to Bangladesh immediately after the procedure in Paris.

A 13-member team of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement held discussions with President Mohammed Shahabuddin and the three service chiefs, including Gen Waker-uz-Zaman, on Tuesday evening on forming the interim government. The students were accompanied by Asif Nazrul, a professor of Dhaka University and a critic of the Hasina government who has considerable influence among the protesters.

The discussions began at 6pm Bangladesh time and continued late into the evening, local media reports said.

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People familiar with developments in Dhaka said that while the military could be amenable to the idea of Yunus heading the interim government, the Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are unlikely to accept the economist in a key role. The Jamaat and BNP were among the parties the Bangladesh army chief consulted on Monday regarding the formation of a caretaker regime.

Meanwhile, the president on Tuesday dissolved the Parliament formed after the general election in January. A statement from the president’s office said the decision was made following Shahabuddin’s discussions with the three service chiefs, leaders of political parties and the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and representatives of civil society.

A separate statement from the president’s office said former premier and BNP chief Khaleda Zia had been released after years of house arrest. Zia, 78, served as premier from 1991 to 1996 and was imprisoned in 2018 for corruption, though she maintained the charges were politically motivated.

Bangladeshi authorities also prevented several leaders of Hasina’s Awami League party from leaving the country. Former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud and former minister of state for IT Zunaid Ahmed Palak were detained at Dhaka’s international airport while attempting to travel to India, local media reported.

Prothom Alo, a leading Bengali daily, reported that the homes, places of worship and businesses of the Hindu minority were attacked in different parts of Bangladesh on Monday. Hindu temples were attacked in Dhaka, Natore, Shariatpur and Faridpur while homes were targeted in Jessore, Noakhali, Meherpur, Chandpur and Khulna, the report said.

About 40 shops owned by Hindus were vandalised in Dinajpur, and a place of worship of the Ahmadiyya minority in Rangpur was also vandalised, it said.

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