Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will head Bangladesh's interim government, official says

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is shown in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Jan. 28, 2024. (Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP file)

DHAKA, Bangladesh -

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will head Bangladesh's interim government after longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising that left hundreds of people dead and pushed the South Asian nation to the brink of chaos.

The decision, announced early Wednesday by Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of the country's figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin, came during a meeting that included military chiefs, organizers of the student protests that helped drive Hasina from power, prominent business leaders and civil society members.

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A longtime political opponent of Hasina, Yunus is expected to return soon from Paris, where he is advising Olympic organizers, media reports said.

An economist and banker, he was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work developing microcredit markets. Yunus has been hailed for bringing thousands out of poverty through Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983, and which makes small loans to businesspeople who wouldn't qualify for regular bank loans.

Other members of the new government would be decided soon, after discussions with political parties and other stakeholders, Abedin said. The president had dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, clearing the way for an interim administration and new elections.

Shahabuddin also ordered the release of opposition leader Khaleda Zia from house arrest, a longtime Hasina rival who was convicted on corruption charges in 2018.

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The streets of Dhaka, the capital, were calm Tuesday, a day after violence swept parts of the country amid Hasina's sudden departure. On Tuesday, jubilant protesters thronged the ousted leader's residence, some posing for selfies with soldiers guarding the building after Monday's wave of looting.

The Bangladesh Police Association went on strike after police stations and security officials were attacked across the country Monday. The association said "many" officers had been killed but gave no number. Officers would not return to work unless their safety is assured, the association said. It also apologized for police attacks on student protesters, saying officers were "forced to open fire."

Yunus, who had called Hasina's resignation the country's "second liberation day," had faced corruption charges during her rule that he derided as politically motivated. He could not immediately be reached for comment, but a key organizer of the protests, Nahid Islam, said he had agreed to head the interim administration.

Islam said protesters would propose more names for the Cabinet and suggested that it would be difficult for those in power to ignore their wishes.

Hasina fled to India by helicopter as protesters defied a military curfew to march on the capital, with thousands eventually storming her residence and other buildings associated with her party and family.

The unrest began in July with protests against a quota system for government jobs, which critics said favored people with connections to her party. But they soon grew into a broader challenge to Hasina's 15-year rule, which was marked by human rights abuses, corruption, allegations of rigged elections and a brutal crackdown on her opponents.

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The government's violent response to the demonstrations, which killed about 300 people in just a few weeks, only fueled the protests more.

The quick move to choose Yunus came after Hasina's resignation created a power vacuum and left the future unclear for Bangladesh, which has a history of military rule, messy politics and myriad crises. The military wields significant influence in a country that has seen more than 20 coups or coup attempts since its independence from Pakistan in 1971. Military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman said Monday he had taken temporary control while a new government is formed.

Amid the 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."

But the country was still counting the toll of weeks of violence that produced some of its worst bloodshed since its war of independence. Many fear that Hasina's departure could trigger even more instability in the densely populated nation of some 170 million people, which is already dealing with high unemployment, corruption and climate change.

Violence in just the few days surrounding Hasina's resignation killed at least 109 people -- including 14 police officers, and left hundreds of others injured, according to media reports which could not be independently confirmed. 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.

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There are growing fears among the country's Hindu minority, which has been targeted in the past during political unrest and which has long been seen as pro-Hasina, that they could again face attacks. Local reports of violence against Hindu leaders and other minorities could not be confirmed.

"Hindus are very afraid," Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari, leader of the Bangladesh branch of a Hindu movement, told the IANS news service. "Hindus are very afraid that they could be attacked anytime. This is because whenever the government falls, minorities are affected."

The EU ambassador to Bangladesh, Charles Whitley, said on the social media platform X that European diplomats were "very concerned" about reports of anti-minority violence.

Opposition politicians have publicly called on people not to attack minority groups, while student leaders asked supporters to guard Hindu temples and other places of worship.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on 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," Tarique Rahman, the party's acting chairman, wrote on X.

"I think the next leader of the country should learn from the students that if anyone becomes corrupt, a traitor, or takes any action against the country, they will face the same fate," said Mohammad Jahirul Islam, a student in Dhaka.

Hasina, 76, was elected to a fourth consecutive term in January, an election boycotted by her main opponents. Thousands of opposition members were jailed before the vote, and the United States and the United Kingdom denounced the result as not credible.

After fleeing Dhaka, Hasina landed Monday at a military airfield near New Delhi and met Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Indian Express newspaper reported. She planned to travel to the United Kingdom, it said.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Parliament that Hasina "at very short notice requested approval to come for the moment to India."

Saaliq reported from New Delhi, India