DHAKA: Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s interim govt on Thursday. Prez Mohammed Shahabuddin also administered oath to 13 members of the advisory council, which includes key organisers of Anti-Discrimination Student Movement — Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan. In their mid-20s, the two led the protests that resulted in the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s govt.
The council includes women’s rights activist Farida Akhtar, professor of Islamic history and Hefazat-e-Islam’s deputy chief AFM Khalid Hossain, Grameen Telecom trustee Nurjahan Begum, freedom fighters Sharmeen Murshid and Farooq-e-Azam, Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board chairman Supradip Chakma, National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital’s psychiatry professor Bidhan Ranjan Roy, and former foreign secretary Touhid Hossain.
Also serving are Bangladesh Bank’s former governor Salehuddin Ahmed, Dhaka University professor Asif Nazrul, human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, ex-attorney general AF Hassan Arif, Bangladesh environmental lawyers association chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan, and former election commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain.
Roy, Chakma, and Farooq e Azam, a naval commando awarded the Bir Pratik for bravery in the 1971 independence war, could not take the oath as they were outside Dhaka.
Yunus, who had been in Paris for the Olympic Games, returned to Dhaka on Thursday via Dubai, where he was greeted at the airport by army chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, senior officials, student leaders, and civil society members. “Today is a day of our pride,” Yunus said emotionally at a press conference at the airport. “We have got independence for the second time. We have to protect this independence,” he added, referring to the ouster of ex-PM Sheikh Hasina as the country’s “second independence”. Yunus told the public: “If you have faith in me and trust me, then ensure that there will be no attack anywhere in the country. This is our first responsibility. If I can’t do it and you do not listen to me, I don’t have any utility here.”
Bangladesh has been rocked by deadly unrest in recent weeks. At least 232 people have been killed in Bangladesh in violence that erupted following the fall of Hasina govt Monday, taking the death toll to 560 since anti-quota protests first started in mid-July. Following the fall of Hasina’s govt, several police stations were attacked, forcing officers to evacuate due to the threat of further violence. In response to Yunus’s call, police returned to work Thursday.
Yunus expressed gratitude to the youth behind the movement, underscoring the need to save the country from violence and move forward on the path shown by the students. “The student protesters had saved the country, he said, adding: “Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that.” Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia expressed optimism that Yunus will successfully lead interim govt. The optimism stems from Yunus’s successful anti-poverty campaign through the Grameen Bank, which has been replicated across continents.
The council includes women’s rights activist Farida Akhtar, professor of Islamic history and Hefazat-e-Islam’s deputy chief AFM Khalid Hossain, Grameen Telecom trustee Nurjahan Begum, freedom fighters Sharmeen Murshid and Farooq-e-Azam, Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board chairman Supradip Chakma, National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital’s psychiatry professor Bidhan Ranjan Roy, and former foreign secretary Touhid Hossain.
Also serving are Bangladesh Bank’s former governor Salehuddin Ahmed, Dhaka University professor Asif Nazrul, human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, ex-attorney general AF Hassan Arif, Bangladesh environmental lawyers association chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan, and former election commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain.
Roy, Chakma, and Farooq e Azam, a naval commando awarded the Bir Pratik for bravery in the 1971 independence war, could not take the oath as they were outside Dhaka.
Yunus, who had been in Paris for the Olympic Games, returned to Dhaka on Thursday via Dubai, where he was greeted at the airport by army chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, senior officials, student leaders, and civil society members. “Today is a day of our pride,” Yunus said emotionally at a press conference at the airport. “We have got independence for the second time. We have to protect this independence,” he added, referring to the ouster of ex-PM Sheikh Hasina as the country’s “second independence”. Yunus told the public: “If you have faith in me and trust me, then ensure that there will be no attack anywhere in the country. This is our first responsibility. If I can’t do it and you do not listen to me, I don’t have any utility here.”
Bangladesh has been rocked by deadly unrest in recent weeks. At least 232 people have been killed in Bangladesh in violence that erupted following the fall of Hasina govt Monday, taking the death toll to 560 since anti-quota protests first started in mid-July. Following the fall of Hasina’s govt, several police stations were attacked, forcing officers to evacuate due to the threat of further violence. In response to Yunus’s call, police returned to work Thursday.
Yunus expressed gratitude to the youth behind the movement, underscoring the need to save the country from violence and move forward on the path shown by the students. “The student protesters had saved the country, he said, adding: “Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that.” Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia expressed optimism that Yunus will successfully lead interim govt. The optimism stems from Yunus’s successful anti-poverty campaign through the Grameen Bank, which has been replicated across continents.
