Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is returning to Bangladesh to guide interim authorities

NEW DELHI, India — Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is about to return to Dhaka on Thursday to be sworn in as his nation’s interim chief, after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India Monday following widespread protests in opposition to her authorities.

Rioters burned down police stations and attacked houses and temples of minority Hindus within the protests. “The whole edifice has collapsed,” mentioned Jyoti Rahman, an Australia-based economist who writes on Bangladeshi politics and financial system, referring to Hasina’s authorities.

The Bangladesh navy’s swift appointment of Yunus was a requirement of scholars who led the protests that triggered the previous prime minister’s resignation. “Any government other than the one we recommended would not be accepted,” Reuters quoted one of many pupil leaders, Nahid Islam, as writing on Fb.

The scholars “were very clear,” mentioned Thomas Kean of the Worldwide Disaster Group. “They were not going to accept the army or an army-backed government.”

These considerations are alive in Bangladesh, the place the establishment has led 29 interventions in a rustic that’s 5 a long time outdated, in accordance with Chietigj Bajpaee, senior analysis fellow for South Asia at Chatham Home in London. It was the military chief, Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman, who introduced the previous prime minister had resigned on Monday.

That resignation triggered “a seismic shift in politics in Bangladesh,” mentioned Kean. Hasina, the world’s longest-serving feminine prime minister, had dominated Bangladesh for 4 back-to-back phrases stretching over 15 years. The final elections had been in January, which she received after the opposition boycotted polls.

Many Bangladeshis had been happy with how Hasina remodeled the nation, constructing roads and railways, and growing a big garment export trade. However her social gathering couldn’t resolve excessive youth unemployment.

That’s partly why her downfall started with college students protesting in opposition to quotas for presidency jobs allotted to descendants of veterans of the 1971 warfare for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. Many college students believed the ruling social gathering was handing out these jobs to cronies. “You basically have this perfect storm of sorts,” mentioned Bajpaee.

College students who protested over the job quotas had been attacked by Hasina’s social gathering loyalists. Paramilitary forces and police joined the fray, triggering violent clashes that killed greater than 300 folks.

And Hasina, 76, was more and more seen as corrupt, illiberal of criticism and hostile to rivals.

That included Yunus, who is maybe Bangladesh’s most outstanding citizen.

Yunus requires calm

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work on microlending to the impoverished. However in June, he was indicted in Bangladesh by a particular court docket in an embezzlement case of over $2 million. Yunus denied the costs and says the case was politically motivated by the previous prime minister, who noticed him as a possible rival.

He was launched on bail and had traveled to Paris for the Olympic Video games. From there, he referred to as on Bangladeshis to “make the best use of our new victory.”

“I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm. Please refrain from all kinds of violence,” he said in a statement on Wednesday via his nonprofit, the Yunus Center. “This is our beautiful country with lots of exciting possibilities. We must protect and make it a wonderful country for us and for our future generations.”

Yunus’ temporary leadership could herald more stability, said Kean. “He’s a nonpartisan figure. That is what Bangladesh needs at the moment, to drive forward this process.”

In Dhaka, many residents appeared happy with the choice.

“In Bangladesh if you have to define a good person, someone we can trust and move forward, someone who we can call reliable — the first name that will come up, it will be Dr. Muhammad Yunus,” said Fakruddin Abu Saeed, a 27-year-old consultant to nonprofits. “We are hoping that Dr. Muhammad Yunus will help Bangladesh move forward from the challenge it is facing.”

Grandmother and housewife Mina Sultana Neelu echoed that praise and hope: “Dr. Yunus is our proud son,” she said. “If our country can move forward holding his hand, then I think our country will transform into something beautiful.”

The abrupt finish to Sheikh Hasina’s rule appeared surprising. It started unraveling after Bangladesh’s navy chief refused to deploy his forces on Monday to quell tens of 1000’s of individuals marching onto Hasina’s residence within the capital, after clashes on Sunday killed greater than 90 folks.

Because the demonstrators neared, with no forces to stop them, Hasina flew to neighboring India. “At very short notice, she requested approval to come for the moment to India,” mentioned that nation’s international minister S. Jaishankar. “We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance from Bangladesh authorities.”

India has had a lengthy and shut relationshipwith Hasina, however there are considerations {that a} extended keep might trigger tensions with any new authorities in Bangladesh.

Protests continued after Sheikh Hasina’s departure

The military chief introduced her departure in a press convention and introduced an interim authorities can be fashioned. At the same time as he spoke, crowds rushed into the prime minister’s residence, some looting gadgets like fish and Hasina’s garments.

Within the hours that adopted, rioters additionally attacked police stations, looting and torching them. “The police was the face of the regime,” mentioned Rahman, the economist. Rioters additionally burned down dozens of Hindu houses, together with a outstanding musician’s. Greater than a dozen temples had been set alight, Reuters reported. It was unclear what motivated these assaults.

Protesters additionally vandalized and tore down a statue of Bangladesh’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was Sheikh Hasina’s personal father. Rioters torched a museum honoring his reminiscence. There have been a number of jailbreaks.

By Tuesday, a tense calm prevailed.

Outstanding navy and civilian officers seen as loyal to Hasina’s social gathering resigned or had been expelled. One main basic was detained aboard an plane whereas making an attempt to depart. Human Rights Watch reported that an advocacy group for households of victims of enforced disappearances demonstrated outdoors Bangladesh’s navy intelligence company, which led to the discharge of at the least two males who had been held for eight years.

Hasina’s archrival, Khaleda Zia, who leads the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion, was freed after years of home arrest. College students and native residents guarded police stations and Hindu temples to stop extra assaults. Additionally they directed site visitors.

The president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, ordered the dissolution of parliament, paving the best way for that interim authorities.

Challenges forward

Already, there are indicators of brewing challenges. “There’s a standoff, to put it bluntly,” mentioned Rahman.

Sometimes in Bangladesh, an interim authorities guidelines for 90 days, and its job is to pave the best way for elections. With Hasina’s social gathering crushed for now, her chief rivals, the BNP, are longing for elections that they’d nearly definitely win.

However elections want safety, and rebuilding the police might take years, despite the fact that a brand new police chief has already been appointed, mentioned Rahman. Bangladesh police introduced an indefinite nationwide strike on Tuesday, fearing for his or her security. The scholars are additionally demanding deep-seated reforms to stop future governments from abusing the powers amassed throughout Hasina’s rule, mentioned Kean.

With out reforms, Kean defined, the incoming authorities would have “no checks and balances. It would control the judiciary, security forces.” It will “be able to use those to hold on to power and suppress opposition.”

So with the arrival of Muhammad Yunus, there’s a brewing query of “what the interim government’s role will be,” mentioned Kean. “Is it just to organize elections? Or is it to undertake some political reforms, to build consensus with the army and political parties, civil society and students on what kind of political system Bangladesh will have in the future.”

Tanbirul Miraj Ripon and Fabeha Monir contributed to this report from Dhaka, Bangladesh.