Nobel laureate Yunus makes emotional return to Bangladesh to lead caretaker government

By Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) -Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus made an emotional return home to Bangladesh on Thursday to lead a new interim government after weeks of student protests forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to neighbouring India.

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

“The country has the possibility of becoming a very beautiful nation,” the economist told reporters at the airport, where he was greeted by senior 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 became emotional, choked 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.”

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.

In a Facebook (NASDAQ:) post, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said the party had not given up, however, and was ready to hold talks with opponents and the interim government.

“I had said my family will no longer be involved in politics but the way our party leaders and workers are being attacked, we cannot give up,” he said on Wednesday.

Yunus, known as the “banker to the poor”, received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered the fight against poverty through small loans to needy borrowers.

INDIA CONCERNED ABOUT PEACE IN BANGLADESH

Hasina’s flight from the country she ruled for 20 of the last 30 years after winning a fourth straight term in January, triggered jubilation and violence as crowds stormed and ransacked her official residence.

She is sheltering in the New Delhi area, a development that Yunus said caused anger at India among some Bangladeshis.

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 foreign ministry said it had no update on Hasina’s travel plans and it was upto her to “take things forward”.

Indian media has reported that Hasina, who has good relations with New Delhi, may travel to Britain. Reuters could not confirm her plans and Britain has declined to comment.

Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called him on Thursday and the two discussed the situation in Bangladesh, but he did not elaborate.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the interests of the people of Bangladesh was “foremost in our mind” and stability there was crucial for peace in the region.

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 in the country, born after the war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted two national elections after the arrest of its leaders, while 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.

Hasina’s arch rival and BNP leader Khaleda Zia, 78, called for calm and an end to violence in a video address from her hospital bed to hundreds of supporters at a rally on Wednesday after her release from house arrest.

“No destruction, revenge or vengeance,” she said as the BNP demanded elections in three months.