Bangladesh Protesters Demand Interim Government Led by Nobel Laureate Yunus

Dhaka, The Gulf Observer: In a significant political development, coordinators of the student protests in Bangladesh have called for the formation of a new interim government with Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus as its chief adviser. This announcement was made via a video released on Facebook by the protest coordinators.

Amid these escalating events, Bangladesh’s Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman plans to meet with the protest coordinators at 12 pm local time (0600 GMT) on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the army.

Muhammad Yunus, a renowned Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist, and civil society leader, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. Yunus expressed his support for the student-led protests, describing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster as “a second liberation for the people of Bangladesh.”

In an interview with Indian media on Monday, Yunus stated, “We were an occupied country as long as she (Hasina) was there. She was behaving like an occupation force, a dictator, a general, controlling everything. Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated.”

This demand for an interim government follows the resignation and departure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after a 15-year rule marked by deadly protests. General Waker-Uz-Zaman, in a national broadcast on state television, confirmed Hasina’s resignation and announced that the military would form a caretaker government.

“The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed — it is time to stop the violence,” General Waker stated shortly after jubilant crowds stormed and looted Hasina’s official residence.

The situation in Bangladesh remains tense as the nation awaits further developments in this unfolding political crisis.