An economist who won the Nobel Peace Prize has been sworn in as the interim chief adviser of Bangladesh after the army took over in the midst of violent protests against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Rahman.
The position of chief adviser means he is interim head of the caretaker government.
The 76-year-old head of the Awami League was the longest-serving female head of government and was elected for a fourth consecutive term in a January vote the main opposition party boycotted.
Yunus arrived at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday from Paris and was later sworn in as the head of the country’s caretaker government.
Yunus Speaks Sees ‘Very Beautiful Nation’
Yunus told reporters at the airport, “The country has the possibility of becoming a very beautiful nation.”“Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that,” he added, referring to the thousands of university students who have led the protests against Rahman’s government.
The demonstrations originally began as a protest against the imposition of quotas for government jobs.
Rahman’s government set a quota saying 30 percent of government jobs had to be filled by relatives of veterans of the country’s war of independence in 1971.
Some of the student leaders who led the uprising against Rahman were at the airport to welcome Yunus, who said his first priority was to restore order.
“Bangladesh is a family,“ Yunus said. ”We have to unite it. It has immense possibility,” he said.
“Violence is our enemy. Please don’t create more enemies. Be calm and get ready to build the country.”
Before he left Paris, Yunus was asked when new elections might be held but replied that it was too early to say.
Originally known as East Pakistan, Bangladesh was set up by the British as a homeland for India’s Muslims when they granted independence to the South Asian sub-continent in 1947 and divided it between Hindus and Muslims.
But Bengali-speaking East Pakistan resented domination by Urdu-speaking West Pakistan and in 1971 a civil war broke out, lasting eight months and leading to atrocities and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Rahman’s father, Mujibur Rahman, was one of the founders of the Awami League and was known as the “father of the nation.” He was assassinated in 1975.
The Awami League and its rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have been bitter rivals for most of the last 50 years.
Reaction to Jobs Quotas
Bangladesh is home to 170 million people and although its garment sector is booming, there are large numbers of unemployed university students, who have led the protests.Rahman’s government had dropped the majority of the government jobs quotas but the protests had by then turned into a wider demand for change against what was perceived as an autocratic regime.
Rahman’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, said the Awami League had to be part of the democratic process going forward.
“The Awami League is the oldest, democratic, and largest party in Bangladesh,” he said in a social media post.
“The Awami League has not died ... It is not possible to eliminate the Awami League,” Joy said. “We had said that our family would not engage in politics anymore. However, given the attacks on our leaders and activists, we cannot give up.”
