Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will head the country’s interim government after prime minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down and fled the country amid a mass uprising against her rule led mostly by students.
The announcement early on Wednesday came from Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of President Mohammed Shahabuddin. Abedin spoke to The Associated Press over the phone.
Abedin also said the other members of the Yunus-led government would be decided soon after discussion with political parties and other stakeholders.
The leaders of the student protests, the chiefs of the country’s three divisions of the military, and civil society members, as well as some business leaders, held a meeting with the president for more than five hours late on Tuesday to decide on the head of the interim administration.
The students had earlier proposed Yunus and said he agreed. The 84-year-old, who is currently in Paris for the Olympics, called Hasina’s resignation the country’s “second liberation day.” He is expected to return to the country from France soon, local media reported.
A longtime opponent of the ousted leader, Yunus was accused of corruption by her government and tried on charges he said were motivated by vengeance. He received the Nobel Prize in 2006 for work pioneering micro-lending.
Following the decision, student leaders left the president’s official house shortly after midnight Tuesday, obviously satisfied.
Bangladesh’s president dissolved the country’s parliament on Tuesday, clearing the way for new elections to replace Hasina as prime minister.
Shahabuddin, the country’s figurehead president, said after meeting with military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman and opposition politicians that a national government would be formed as soon as possible, leading to fresh elections.
On Tuesday, some senior positions in the military were reshuffled. The student protesters said they would not allow any military-backed government.
Student organizer Nahid Islam said the protesters would propose more names for the cabinet, and suggested it would be difficult for those in power to ignore their wishes.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country following weeks of violent anti-government protests.
Zaman said on Monday that he was temporarily taking control of the country, as soldiers tried to quell the unrest. The military wields significant political influence in Bangladesh, which has faced more than 20 coups or coup attempts since gaining independence in 1971.
Amid celebrations, student Juairia Karim said it was a historic day: “Today we are getting what we deserve,” she said. “Everyone is happy, everyone is cheerful.”
Jubilant protesters still thronged the ousted leader’s residence, some posing for selfies with the soldiers guarding the building. Just a day earlier, angry protesters had looted furniture, paintings, flower pots and chickens.
The streets of the capital, Dhaka, appeared calmer Tuesday, with no reports of new violence, following weeks of unrest against public sector job quotas for families of veterans of Bangladesh’s independence war.
Fears of more instability
However, the country is still reckoning with the aftermath of weeks of unrest, which produced some of the worst bloodshed since the 1971 war of independence. Many fear that Hasina’s departure could lead to even more instability in the densely populated South Asian nation, which is already dealing with crises from high unemployment to corruption to the effects of climate change.
Violence just before and after Hasina’s resignation left at least 109 people dead, including 14 police officers, and hundreds of others injured, according to media reports, which could not be independently confirmed.
Police walk out over security concerns
The Bangladesh Police Association said Tuesday it was enforcing a strike across the country because of a lack of security and safety after numerous police stations were attacked on Monday killing many officers, though it didn’t give any number of the dead.
In a statement, it also said officers would not return to work unless their security was ensured. Police in Dhaka mostly left their stations and assembled in a central barracks in fear of attacks after several stations were torched or vandalized.
The police association also issued an apology for the violent attacks on student protesters. Students who led the protests were seen directing traffic at major intersections in Dhaka in the absence of police on Tuesday.
Amid security concerns, the main airport in Dhaka resumed operations after eight hours of suspension.
Meanwhile, in the southwestern district of Satkhira, 596 prisoners and detainees escaped from a jail after an attack on the facility Monday evening, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party Tuesday urged people to exercise restraint in what it said was a “transitional moment on our democratic path.”
“It would defeat the spirit of the revolution that toppled the illegitimate and autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina if people decide to take the law into their own hands without due process,” Tarique Rahman, the party’s acting chair, wrote on the social media platform X.
In a statement Monday, the United Nation’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the transition of power in Bangladesh must be “in line with the country’s international obligations” and “inclusive and open to the meaningful participation of all Bangladeshis.”
Hasina landed at a military airfield near New Delhi on Monday after leaving Dhaka and met India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Indian Express newspaper reported. The report said Hasina was taken to a safe house and is likely to travel to the United Kingdom.
The 76-year-old was elected for a fourth consecutive term in a January vote that was boycotted by her main opponents. Thousands of opposition members were jailed before the polls, and the U.S. and the U.K. denounced the result as not credible, though the government defended it.
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