Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been sworn in as Bangladesh’s interim chief, vowing to “uphold, help and shield the structure”.
The 84-year-old and a dozen members of the brand new cupboard took an oath on the Presidential Palace in Dhaka, vowing to carry out their duties “sincerely”.
Simply days earlier than he flew into the capital Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina, the girl who has dominated Bangladesh with an iron fist for 15 years, fled throughout the border to India.
Ms Hasina resigned as prime minister after weeks of escalating student-led protests that left lots of useless, culminating in requires her to step down.
The choice to nominate Professor Yunus as chief adviser to the interim authorities got here after a gathering between President Mohammad Shahabuddin, navy leaders and scholar leaders.
College students made it clear they’d not settle for a military-led authorities however needed Professor Yunus to guide it.
His new cupboard contains Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, college students who’ve led anti-government protests.
It’s hoped that Professor Yunus, the so-called banker of the poor, can convey democracy to Bangladesh after years of dictatorship.
“Individuals are excited,” the entrepreneur and economist informed the BBC instantly after arriving in Dhaka from France on Thursday.
He later informed reporters that Bangladesh had “gained its second independence” and referred to as for the restoration of regulation and order within the nation of 170 million folks.
After Professor Yunus was sworn in, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his “greatest needs” and wrote on X/Twitter that his authorities was “dedicated” to working with its neighbors to realize “peace” , safety and growth”.
Professor Yunus paid tribute to the victims, saying they’d “protected the nation” and given it “new life” beneath Ms Hasina’s rule.
She initially noticed the rule as a logo of democracy, however when she fled, she was thought-about a dictator searching for to consolidate her authority by suppressing dissent.
The jail was stuffed with folks making an attempt to talk out towards her. Professor Yunus, who’s credited with pioneering the usage of microfinance, was a kind of who acquired into authorized bother throughout her tenure.
Ms Hasina views him as a public enemy – he’s at the moment out on bail and interesting his six-month jail sentence in what he calls a politically motivated case.
In a speech on Thursday, he referred to as on the nation’s younger folks to assist him rebuild the South Asian nation.
“Bangladesh could possibly be a phenomenal nation, however we destroyed the likelihood,” he mentioned.
“Now we have now to construct seedbeds once more – new ones will probably be constructed by them,” he added, pointing to the scholars who got here to greet him.
U.S. Environmental Safety CompanyHe took over as Bangladesh’s interim chief after weeks of turmoil.
Greater than 400 individuals are reported to have died since protests searching for to abolish the quota system for civil service jobs started in July.
One-third of the roles are reserved for kin of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 struggle of independence.
Though the demand was largely met after the Supreme Court docket sided with the scholars’ calls for and considerably lowered the dimensions of the quota system, the protests then become a broader anti-government motion repression fuels.
Bangladeshi media and demonstrators blame police for the rising dying toll. Officers insist police fired solely in self-defense or to guard state property.
College students and their supporters had deliberate to carry a march on the Prime Minister’s residence on Monday.
However earlier than the march formally started, information emerged that Sheikh Hasina had fled Bangladesh and resigned as prime minister. She is at the moment in Delhi.
