Dhaka: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed chief adviser to Bangladesh's caretaker government on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising.
Yunus was appointed to the post by Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin after he met with student leaders and the chiefs of the three armed forces, local media reported late Tuesday, citing a statement and officials from the presidential office.
Yunus, 84, and his Grameen Bank, a microfinance organization, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their work in lifting millions of people out of poverty by providing loans of less than $100 to poor people in rural Bangladesh.
Student leaders said they wanted Yunus to be the caretaker government's chief adviser, and a Yunus spokesman agreed. Yunus is currently in Paris for medical treatment and is expected to return to Dhaka soon.
There has been no comment from him on the appointment, and it is not yet clear when the caretaker government will take office.
Earlier on Tuesday, Shahabuddin dissolved parliament, opening the way for a caretaker government and fresh elections.
His office also announced that Bangladesh Nationalist opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister who has clashed with Hasina for decades, has been released from house arrest.
Student protesters threaten to protest again if parliament is not dissolved
Shahabuddin had previously said that a caretaker government would hold elections soon after taking office. Nahid Islam, the main organizer of the anti-Hasina campaign, said in a video message: “Any government other than the one we recommend will not be accepted.”
The movement to oust Hasina arose out of protests against a government job quota for families of veterans of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence, which critics saw as a way to reserve jobs for ruling party allies.
About 300 people have been killed and thousands injured in violence across the country since July.
After protesters looted the prime minister's luxury residence on Monday, streets in the capital Dhaka were quiet again on Tuesday, with traffic lighter than usual and schools and businesses that had been closed during the riots remaining closed.
Garment factories, which supply clothes to global brands and are a pillar of the economy, will reopen on Wednesday after being closed due to the disruption, a leading garment manufacturers association said.
Hasina's escape ended her second term in power in the country of 170 million people, which had lasted 15 of her 30 years under the leadership of a political movement inherited from her father, state founder Mujibur Rahman, after he was assassinated in 1975.
Since the early 1990s, Hasina has clashed and swapped power with rival Zia, who inherited her political movement from her husband, Ziaur Rahman, a ruler who was assassinated in 1981.
2nd Liberation Day
Yunus, who was indicted in June on fraud charges but denied them, told Indian television channel Times Now that Monday marked Bangladesh's “second liberation day” after its 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
But he said Bangladeshis were angry with neighboring India for allowing Hasina to land there after fleeing Dhaka.
“India is our best friend… People are angry with India because India supports people who are destroying our lives,” Yunus said.
The anti-Hasina protests are partly fueled by poverty. After years of strong economic growth as the garment industry expanded, the $450 billion economy has struggled with high import costs and inflation, and the government has asked the International Monetary Fund for help.
Hasina has been accused of increasingly authoritarian rule, with several of her political opponents jailed. Her resignation was greeted by a jubilant crowd, which stormed her compound unopposed and carried away furniture and televisions after she fled on Monday.
Hasina flew to India and is staying at a safe house outside Delhi. Indian media reported that Hasina may travel to the UK, where she has family, including a niece who is a government minister.
Reuters was unable to confirm her plans, while the UK Home Office declined to comment.
Student leaders said they had received reports of attacks on minority groups, including Hindu temples, in the Muslim-majority country, and called for restraint.
Hundreds of Hindu homes, shops and temples have been destroyed since Hasina was ousted, a community association said Tuesday, as India expressed concern over the incident.
Reuters was unable to verify the scale of the reported incident, and police did not return calls seeking comment.
Hindus make up about 8 percent of Bangladesh's 170 million population and generally support Hasina's Awami League, which identifies itself as a largely secular party rather than an opposition group that includes radical Islamic parties.
