Students name Nobel laureate Yunus as chief advisor of Bangladesh’s interim gov’t

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – The key coordinators of the student movement that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee Bangladesh announced Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the chief advisor of the interim government on Tuesday.

In a video posted on social media, key coordinator Nahid Islam along with two other coordinators said “we have decided to outline the formation of an interim government with globally renowned and widely accepted Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as its chief advisor.”

“We have spoken to Prof. Yunus, and he has agreed to take on this important responsibility to protect Bangladesh at the call of students,” he said.

They also warned that they won’t accept any government backed by the military.

They said that following the “student-civilian revolution,” supporters of Sheikh Hasina’s regime unleashed anarchy and unrest across the country to undermine the “victory” of the people.

They called on the country’s president to immediately implement their proposal to form the interim government to bring order to the country.

At least 112 people were killed Monday in clashes across the country after Hasina fled Bangladesh, according to the Daily Manab Zamin newspaper. Most of the dead suffered bullet wounds, it added.

Last month, students launched protests against discrimination in public job recruitment.

With the latest casualties, the death toll rose to at least 478 from July 16 until Aug. 5, including 100 on Sunday, according to local media reports. At least 266 occurred in July, according to the Daily Naya Diganta newspaper.

Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of opposition leader Khaleda Zia late Monday, hours after Hasina fled the country amid widespread protests.

A statement from Shahabuddin’s office said that all political parties had agreed to dissolve parliament to form a transitional government as announced earlier by army chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman.

The decision came after leaders of opposition parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami party met Shahabuddin for talks.

Zia, the chairperson of the BNP and a two-term prime minister of Bangladesh (1991-1996 and 2001-2006), has been under arrest since 2018.

It added that all those detained during mass student protests will be released.

Zaman has pledged to investigate the deaths of protesters in recent days.