Coordinators of the student protests in Bangladesh have called for the establishment of a new interim government, with Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus proposed as its chief adviser, according to a video they released on Facebook.
In a separate development, the Bangladesh army chief is scheduled to meet with the protest coordinators at 12 pm local time (0600 GMT) on Tuesday, as announced by the military in a statement.
Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, and economist, gained international recognition for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering microcredit and microfinance, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
On Monday, Yunus told media that the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by the student-led protests marked “a second liberation for the people of Bangladesh.” He described Hasina’s rule as that of an “occupation force, a dictator, a general, controlling everything,” adding that “today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated.”
This call for Yunus to lead an interim government comes in the wake of Prime Minister Hasina’s resignation and departure to India, which ended her 15-year rule amidst violent protests.
Bangladesh’s Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced in a national broadcast that Hasina had resigned and that the military would form a caretaker government. “The country has suffered greatly, the economy has been hit, many lives have been lost—it is time to end the violence,” Waker said, shortly after crowds stormed and looted Hasina’s official residence.
The protests, which initially began as peaceful demonstrations by students demanding the abolition of a quota system for government jobs, escalated into a broader uprising against Hasina and her Awami League party. Resentment had also lingered from the January elections, which saw thousands of opposition members imprisoned.
The government responded to the protests with force, resulting in nearly 300 deaths and further inflaming public outrage.
Bangladesh has a history of military coups. The military declared a state of emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government that lasted for two years. Hasina returned to power in 2009 and secured her fourth consecutive election victory in January in a vote criticized for lacking genuine opposition.
Rights groups have accused Hasina’s government of abusing state institutions to consolidate power and suppress dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
