Mohammed Yunus has arrived in Bangladesh to lead an interim government, following more than 15 years of rule by ousted former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus returned to Bangladesh on Thursday to take office as the head of an interim government after a student-led uprising forced Sheikh Hasina to end her more than 15-year rule.
Yunus, 84, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon, where he was greeted by the country’s military chief Waker-uz-Zaman and other defense leaders.
He could be sworn in as soon as Thursday evening — marking the beginning of what the army chief pledged would be a “beautiful democratic process.”
Just a week ago, the Bangladeshi military was shooting at students protesting against Hasina’s government, killing at least 300 people.
Yunus — ‘the name of confidence’
The lauded professor is currently the only name that instills confidence in students and citizens, Bangladeshi journalist Mainul Islam Khan told DW in an interview. He added that people were “eagerly waiting for him to take charge of the country.”
Once sworn in, Yunus is set to face huge challenges, Khan said. “The first challenge is to restore security in the country to send the students back to the classrooms and the people back to their homes.”
Another is to fill positions in several key government positions where officials have resigned in the last few weeks.
The biggest challenge, however, is to fulfill the students’ key demand — reform in all sectors.
“It is very early to say how much time he will need to reform the important sectors including the Election Commission and then call for an election,” Khan said.
Yunus urges calm
“Be calm and get ready to build the country,” Yunus said Wednesday in a statement before beginning his journey back home. “If we take the path of violence everything will be destroyed.”
“I’m looking forward to going back home, and see what’s happening and how we can organize ourselves to get out of the trouble we are in,” Yunus told reporters at Paris airport on Wednesday.
The 84-year-old hopes to hold elections within a few months.
Earlier on Wednesday, a tribunal in Dhaka acquitted Yunus in a labor law violation case that many believed to be politically motivated. He was sentenced to six months in prison but he had been allowed to remain on bail while filing an appeal.
Another rival of Hasina, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, also saw her conviction overturned by presidential decree on Tuesday, letting her hold her first public address in six years.
