Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh to lead interim govt

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2024-08-08T14:07:00+05:00

Dhaka (Web Desk/Agencies): Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus arrived Bangladesh on Thursday to lead a caretaker government after a student-led uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

Yunus, 84, arrived in Dhaka following medical treatment in Paris, after protesters backed him for the role in a government tasked with holding elections for a new leader.

"I feel good coming back home," the economist said at the airport, where he was greeted by top military officers and student leaders.

The student protesters had saved the country and that freedom had to be protected, he said, adding, "Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that."
Yunus is set to be sworn in as chief of a team of advisers at 1430 GMT, at the official residence of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

Hasina's Awami League party does not figure in the interim government after she resigned on Monday, following weeks of violence that killed about 300 people and injured thousands.

During Hasina’s reign, Muhammad Yunus was hit with more than 100 criminal cases and a smear campaign by a state-led religious agency that accused him of promoting homosexuality.

He had travelled abroad this year while on bail after being sentenced to six months in jail on a charge condemned as politically motivated, and which a Dhaka court on Wednesday acquitted him of.

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