NOBEL Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has returned home to Bangladesh to lead a new interim government after weeks of tumultuous student protests forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to neighboring India.
According to Reuters, Yunus (84), a harsh critic of Hasina, arrived in Dhaka following medical treatment in Paris after protesters backed him for the role in a government tasked with holding elections for a new leader.
“The country has the possibility of becoming a very beautiful nation,” the economist told reporters at the airport, where he was greeted by senior military officers and student leaders.
The student protesters had “saved the country and that freedom had to be protected,” he said, adding: “Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that.”
Reuters reports that Yunus is set to be sworn in as chief of a team of advisers later on Thursday at the official residence of President Mohammed Shahabuddin, according to Reuters.
Hasina’s Awami League party does not figure in the interim government after she resigned on Monday following weeks of violence that killed about 300 people and injured thousands, Reuters reported.
Yunus, known as the “banker to the poor”, received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered the fight against poverty through small loans to needy borrowers.
Hasina’s flight from the country she ruled for 20 of the last 30 years after winning a fourth straight term in January triggered jubilation and violence as crowds stormed and ransacked her official residence, Reuters said.
The student-led movement that ousted Hasina grew out of protests against quotas in government jobs that spiraled in July, provoking a violent crackdown that drew global criticism, though the government denied using excessive force, according to Reuters.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted two national elections after the arrest of its leaders, while the COVID-19 pandemic damaged the $450 billion economy after years of strong growth, leading to high inflation, unemployment and shrinking reserves, Reuters reported.
