Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has pledged to establish a government that ensures citizens' safety as he returned to Bangladesh to head an interim administration following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Yunus, 84, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, was appointed head of the interim government after Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and fled to India following widespread protests against her regime.
He arrived in Dhaka from Paris, where he was attending the Olympic Games. Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, senior officials, student leaders and civil society members welcomed him at the airport.
At a press conference at the airport, Yunus expressed gratitude to the youth who made the protest movement against Hasina successful.
“Today is a day of our pride,” he said. Yunus called the change of regime the country’s “second independence”.
"We have got independence for the second time. We have to protect this independence," he said.
Yunus, who is scheduled to be sworn in as the chief adviser, equivalent to prime minister, said his first task would be to bring back law and order controlling the anarchic activities and attacks on minority communities, calling the incidents “part of a conspiracy”.
He asked the citizens to save the country from chaos created during the protests. “If you have faith in me, you ensure that there will be no attack on anybody, anywhere in the country. This is our first responsibility,” Yunus said.
“If I can’t do it and you do not listen to me, I don’t have any utility here,” he said.
Yunus said the country was now in the hands of the young people."The nation is in your hands now. Now you have to rebuild it as per your aspirations. You have to use your creativity to build the country. You have earned independence for the country," he said.
“We need to change our state structure and remove all elements of fear from it, so that people look at it and think that the state has been formed to safeguard them," Yunus added.
Yunus paid tribute to Abu Sayed, a student activist killed during the protests. The interim government, to be sworn in on Thursday evening, will oversee the transition to an elected government.
The Army chief on Wednesday said the oath-taking ceremony will likely be held in the evening in the presence of some 400 dignitaries. He hinted that the interim government may have 15 members for now, but did not disclose names or tenure.
