Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as interim leader of Bangladesh on Thursday, vowing to steer the country back to democracy after a student-led uprising ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, Bangladeshi media reported.
Yunus, who returned home just hours ago, vowed to “honour, uphold and defend the constitution” before political and community leaders, generals and diplomats at the presidential palace.
Yunus, 84, told reporters after returning to Dhaka from Europe:
“Today is a glorious day for us. Bangladesh has created a new victory day. Bangladesh has got a second independence.”
He called for order to be restored in the South Asian nation after weeks of violence that has left at least 455 people dead, and urged citizens to protect each other, including minorities under attack.
“Law and order is our first task… We cannot take a step forward unless we fix the law and order situation. My call to the people is if you have trust in me, then make sure there will be no attacks against anyone, anywhere in the country.”
More than a dozen members of his cabinet, labelled advisers rather than ministers, were also sworn in.
They included former foreign minister, former attorney general, environmental lawyer and prominent human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who was sentenced to two years in jail during Hasina’s rule.
The interim administration includes civilians except one retired brigadier general.
Bangladeshis backed the opposition
Bangladeshis expressed hope for the future at a rally in Dhaka on Wednesday in support of the former opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), whose chairperson, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, 78, was released from years of house arrest.
Moynul Islam Pintu told AFP:
“I expect that the country is run in a nice way, and the police force is reformed so that they can’t harass people.”
Monday’s events were the culmination of more than a month of unrest that began as protests against a quota plan for government jobs but escalated into an anti-Hasina movement.
Hasina promises to return for elections
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will return to her country when her new interim government decides to hold elections, her son said, but did not specify whether she would run.
Talking to Times of India, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who lives in the US, said:
“For the time being, she (Hasina) is in India. She will go back to Bangladesh the moment the interim government decides to hold an election.”
He did not specify whether 76-year-old Hasina would contest the election. Joy also added:
“My mother would have retired from politics after the current term.”
Hasina is taking shelter at a safe house in a New Delhi neighbourhood. Indian media reported that she plans to seek asylum in Britain, but the British Home Office declined to comment.
