Nobel laureate Yunus takes charge of Bangladesh, hopes to heal strife-torn country (updated)

Altin Yunus Cesme Turistik Tesisler

08/08/2024 04:39

* 
      Yunus takes charge with 13 other advisers
    

        * 
      Two student leaders among advisers
    

        * 
      Yunus promises to lead with guidance of students
    

        * 
      Former PM Hasina remains in Delhi
    

        * 
      India PM Modi asks Dhaka to protect minority Hindus
    

  
 (Recasts with Yunus being sworn in)
    By Ruma Paul
       DHAKA, Aug 8 (Reuters) - 
    Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of
Bangladesh's caretaker government on Thursday, hoping to help
heal the country that was convulsed by weeks of violence,
forcing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quit and 
    flee to neighbouring India
    .
  
        Known as the "banker to the poor", 
    Yunus is the pioneer
     of the global microcredit movement. The Grameen Bank he
founded won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for helping lift millions
from poverty by providing tiny loans to the rural poor who are
too impoverished to gain attention from traditional banks.
  
        As chief adviser of the caretaker government, he is,
however, tasked with bringing stability back to the country
which witnessed some of its worst violence in decades and then
hold fresh parliamentary elections.
  
    "The country has the possibility of becoming a very
beautiful nation," Yunus earlier told reporters when he arrived
in Dhaka following medical treatment in Paris, after protesters
backed him for the role in a caretaker government.    
    The student protesters had saved the country, he said,
adding: "Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead
with that."    
    A harsh critic of Hasina, Yunus became emotional and seemed
to hold his tears back as he referred to a student he said had
been shot during the protests and that sacrifice could not be
forgotten.    
    "Now again we have to rise up. To the government officials
here and defence chiefs - we are a family, we should move ahead
together," he said.        
    Hasina's flight from the country she ruled for 20 of the
last 30 years after winning a fourth term in January triggered
jubilation and violence as crowds stormed and ransacked her
official residence.
    Many Hindu homes, temples and businesses were vandalised
after Hasina's departure, and hundreds in the minority community
have tried unsuccessfully to flee to India this week. The
Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said a school
teacher was killed and 45 other people hurt.  
    Many Hindus have traditionally supported Hasina's Awami
League party, which identifies as secular. 
        
    POWER VACUUM
        Yunus' swearing-in plugged the power vacuum in the South
Asian country of 170 million people with the fourth-largest
Muslim population in the world, created after Hasina resigned
and flew to India on Monday.
  
        President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath of
office to Yunus and 13 advisers who will help him govern, at a
brief ceremony in the official presidential residence.
  
        Three more advisers will be sworn in at a later date,
officials said. 
    Nahid Islam
     and Asif Mahmud, two student leaders who are both in their
mid-20s and led the protests, were among the 13 who joined the
caretaker government.
  
        The ceremony started with a minute's silence as a mark
of respect to the hundreds who were killed in the protests and
clashes that erupted in July. 
  
        The army played a critical role towards the end of the
crisis, conveying to Hasina that troops would not open fire on
civilians to enforce a curfew declared on Sunday, 
    sealing her fate
    , Reuters reported.
  
    Hasina's Awami League party does not figure in the interim
government. In a Facebook post, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said
the party had not given up, and was ready to hold talks with
opponents and the interim government. 
    The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
boycotted two national elections after the arrest of its leaders
and has demanded fresh elections in three months.
        
  
        PROTECT HINDUS, INDIA URGES
  
    Hasina is sheltering in the New Delhi area, a development
that Yunus said caused anger at India among some Bangladeshis.
India's foreign ministry said it had no update on Hasina's
travel plans and it was up to her to "take things forward". 
    The neighbours have longstanding cultural and business ties
and New Delhi played a key role in the 1971 war with Pakistan
which led to the creation of Bangladesh. 
    India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Yunus and
said New Delhi was committed to working with Dhaka to fulfil the
"shared aspirations" of the people of both countries for "peace,
security and development". 
        "We hope for an early return to normalcy, ensuring the
safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority
communities," he said.   
    The student-led movement that ousted Hasina grew out of 
protests against quotas in government jobs that spiralled in
July, provoking a violent crackdown that drew global criticism,
though the government denied using excessive force.
    The protests were fuelled also by harsh economic conditions
and political repression. The COVID-19 pandemic damaged the $450
billion economy after years of strong growth, leading to high
inflation, unemployment and shrinking reserves. 
    It pushed the Hasina government to seek a $4.7 billion loan
from the International Monetary Fund.    

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FACTBOX - Troubled Bangladesh's economy bogged down by high
unemployment, inflation     ID:nL4N3JV0T6 
Hindus in Bangladesh try to flee to India amid violence    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hindus-bangladesh-try-flee-india-amid-violence-2024-08-08/
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Ruma Paul and Sudipto Ganguly; Additional
reporting by Krishna Das, Tanvi Mehta, Sakshi Dayal and Shounak
Dasgupta; Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Shivam Patel and YP
Rajesh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Angus MacSwan and
Bernadette Baum)
 ((shilpa.jamkhandikar@thomsonreuters.com))