Bangladesh's interim government led by Muhammad Yunus will take oath tomorrow
New Delhi:
Bangladesh's interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus will take oath tomorrow, the country's army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, said today. General Waker told reporters that the interim government is likely to take oath at 8 p.m.
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The army chief said the advisory council headed by Mr. Yunus could have 15 members. Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Tuesday appointed Mr. Yunus, 84, as head of the interim government after the violent ouster of former pro-India Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
General Waker said Mr Yunus will lead Bangladesh through a “democratic process” when he arrives in the country to lead the interim government.
“He is very eager to do this,” the general said in a televised address to the nation. “I am sure he can lead us through a wonderful democratic process and we will benefit from it,” he said.
Mr Yunus also said today that he looked forward to helping the country overcome the current turbulence. “I look forward to going back home, seeing what happens and how we can organise ourselves to get out of the trouble we are in,” he told reporters before boarding a flight at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport to Dubai, where he will catch a connecting plane to Dhaka.
The Nobel Prize-winning microfinance pioneer has called for calm after weeks of violence that have left at least 455 people dead. “If we take the path of violence, everything will be destroyed,” he added.
The appointment came soon after student leaders called on Mr. Yunus — who has lifted millions out of poverty in Bangladesh — to lead. The decision was taken in a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, the heads of the army, navy and air force, and student leaders.
According to Nahid Islam, one of the leaders of Students Against Discrimination who attended the meeting, Mr Yunus will be given the title of chief advisor.
A Bangladesh court today acquitted Mr Yunus of a labour conviction on appeal, his lawyer Khaja Tanvir Ahmed told AFP news agency. Mr Yunus travelled abroad earlier this year after being sentenced to six months in prison on the labour charge — but was immediately released on bail pending an appeal. The case has been criticised as politically motivated by human rights watchdogs including Amnesty International.
Ms Hasina, 76, who has been in power since 2009, stepped down on Monday as hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Dhaka demanding she step down. Monday's events were the culmination of more than a month of unrest that began as protests against a plan for government jobs quotas but morphed into an anti-Hasina movement.
Ms Hasina, accused of rigging the January election and widespread human rights abuses, deployed security forces to crack down on the protests. Hundreds of people were killed in the crackdown, but the military turned on Ms Hasina over the weekend and she was forced to flee by helicopter to neighbouring India.
With input from AFP
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