Bangladesh president announces Nobel laureate Yunus as interim govt chief

Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus was on Tuesday appointed as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following deadly protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs.

The decision was made in a meeting of President Shahabuddin with chiefs of the three services and a 13-member delegation of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement at Bangabhaban tonight, President’s Press Secretary Md. Joynal Abedin said.

“The President named Dr Yunus as the chief adviser of the interim government,” he announced after the four-hour-long meeting.

He added that the names of the advisers of the interim cabinet would be announced later after discussion with different political parties.

According to the state-run BSS news agency, the president wished for the inclusion of at least one 1971 Liberation War veteran as an adviser of the cabinet.

During the meeting, Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Navy Chief Admiral M Nazmul Hassan, Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan, Dhaka University Law Department Professor Asif Nazrul and International Relations Department Professor Tanzim Uddin Khan were present.

Yunus, 84, is currently out of the country but welcomed the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s regime, describing the development as the “second liberation” of the country.

Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his anti-poverty campaign through the Grameen Bank, a mode; which was replicated across continents.

He had been in a protracted row with Hasina’s government due to obscure reasons while authorities initiated a series of investigations against him after she came to power in 2008.

Bangladesh authorities launched a review of the statutory Grameen Bank’s activities in 2011 and fired Yunus as its founding managing director on charges of violating the government retirement regulation.

He was charged under dozens of cases. In January, Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail by a court on charges of labour law violation.

Many people believe Hasina became enraged when Yunus announced that he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government and Hasina was in prison.

Yunus, however, did not follow through on the plan but at that time he criticised Bangladeshi politicians alleging they were only interested in money.

The Hindustan Times YouTube channel now has 7 million subscribers. We thank our viewers for their support. Follow the channel for exclusive video news on politics, sports, entertainment & more.