New Delhi: Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus will head Bangladesh’s interim government, a press release from the president’s residence and office said according to the Daily Star.According to the newspaper, the decision was taken after a meeting between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, the key organisers of the movement against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the chiefs of Bangladesh’s army, navy and air force.News agency AFP earlier reported that Yunus said he was ready to head an interim government in Bangladesh.According to journalist David Bergman, an aide of the 84-year-old economist cited him as saying on Tuesday (August 6) that he had “agreed to the request of the student leaders to be head of the interim government”.“I told the student leaders ‘I did not want to do this. It is not what I do, but that how can I refuse their request after all that you have done?’,” Yunus, who is reportedly in Paris, was further quoted as saying.Yunus, who is credited with lifting millions out of poverty through his microfinancing Grameen Bank, was convicted in a labour law violation case early this year. His supporters said he was being targeted by Hasina.Earlier on Tuesday, Shahabuddin dissolved the parliament elected on January 7 this year with Hasina at the helm.“The decision to dissolve the parliament was taken following the president’s discussions with chiefs of three staffs of armed forces, leaders of different political parties, representatives of civil society and leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement,” a press release from the president’s office said.Hasina arrived in India aboard a military aircraft after resigning as prime minister. She reportedly seeks asylum in the UK, but her stay in India will likely last for longer than scheduled because the UK requires that asylum applicants be physically present on its territory.The president of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court Bar Association, A.M. Mahbub Uddin Khokhon, has called on India to arrest Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana – with whom she arrived in India – and repatriate them back to Bangladesh, the Daily Star reported.Meanwhile, former Bangladeshi prime minister and key opposition leader Khaleda Zia was released from jail a day after Hasina fled the country.Shahabuddin had ordered Zia’s release shortly after Hasina stepped down as prime minister and left Bangladesh on Monday as protesters stormed Dhaka. “[They] decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately,” the president’s press team said in a statement.It was also decided to free all those arrested during the student protests, the statement added. Waker, during a broadcast on state television, had announced on August 5 that Hasina had resigned and that the military would form an interim government.Zia, now 78, is in poor health and confined to hospital after she was sentenced to 17 years in prison on corruption charges in 2018, the Daily Star reported.Considered to be Hasina’s arch-rival, Zia was accused of misusing her power to embezzle $250,000 in donations meant for an orphanage trust. The BNP has said the cases were fabricated and aimed at keeping the two-time former prime minister away from politics.Zia served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991-1996 and later from 2001-2006. While she had also won the 1996 general elections, major opposition parties, including Hasina’s Awami League, had boycotted and denounced the elections as unfair. As a result her government lasted for merely 12 days before a caretaker government was installed.The 79-year-old former prime minister has long battled various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart and eyes, the Daily Star reported.In a statement released on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that if formed, Bangladesh’s interim government must ensure the protection of people’s rights and that the violence preceding Hasina’s ouster be impartially investigated.“The first order of business for any interim government should be to ensure protection of people’s right to life, right to free speech and peaceful assembly and to find ways of de-escalating any potential for further violence,” Amnesty said.It added: “The human rights violations in the last three weeks that have led to the death of more than 300 people, with thousands injured and arbitrarily arrested, should be independently and impartially investigated in a transparent manner.“We also call again for the establishment of a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into the deaths and injuries resulting from the protests. Those found responsible must be held accountable and the victims of the violence should receive full reparations from the state, which includes compensation, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition.”
