Joe McConnell
Getty ImagesNobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus will serve as chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, the president’s office has announced.
The decision was taken during a meeting between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders and leaders of the Students Against Discrimination group, the presidency said.
The news comes a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country, following weeks of student-led protests that escalated into deadly riots.
Student leaders had made clear that they would not accept a military-led government and had pushed for Yunus to lead the interim administration.
Mr. Yunus, who has agreed to take on the role, said: “When students who have made so many sacrifices ask me to step in at this difficult time, how can I refuse?”
According to his spokesman, he is returning to Dhaka from Paris, where he is undergoing a minor medical operation.
“The president has asked the people to help him overcome the crisis. To overcome the crisis, the rapid formation of an interim government is necessary,” the president’s office said in a statement.
According to local media, more than 100 people were killed in violent clashes across Bangladesh on Monday, the highest death toll since the start of mass protests.
Hundreds of police stations have been set on fire and the Bangladesh Police Service Association (BPSA) has declared a strike “until the safety of every member of the police is ensured”.
The group tried to place the blame on the authorities, claiming they were “forced to shoot.”
More than 400 people are believed to have died overall, as protests were met with a crackdown by government forces.
Bangladesh’s national police chief was fired on Wednesday, the president’s office said.
The protests began in early July with peaceful demands by university students to abolish quotas for public sector jobs, but have morphed into a broader anti-government movement.
Weeks of unrest culminated in the storming of the prime minister’s official residence, shortly after Ms Hasina fled to neighbouring India, ending nearly 15 years of rule.
Within hours of his resignation, Bangladesh’s army chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman, promised that an interim administration would be formed, adding on state television that “it is time to end the violence.”
Former prime minister and key opposition leader Khaleda Zia was released on Tuesday after years of house arrest, an earlier presidential statement said.
He is chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted elections in 2014 and again in 2024, saying free and fair elections were not possible under Ms Hasina.
The BNP wanted the elections to be held under a neutral caretaker administration. This has now become a possibility after the departure of Ms Hasina, who had always rejected this demand.
Ms Zia, 78, was Bangladesh’s prime minister from 1991 to 1996, but was jailed in 2018 for corruption, although she said the charges were politically motivated.
He was not the only opposition figure to be released after years of detention.
Activist Ahmad Bin Quasem has also been freed, according to his lawyer Michael Polak.
Human rights groups say Mr Quasem was taken away by security forces in 2016, one of hundreds of enforced disappearances in the country under Ms Hasina.
“There were many moments during his detention when there was fear that he would die, and uncertainty was one of the many tools of repression used by the regime,” Mr Polak explained, adding that they hoped the decision to release political prisoners “is a positive sign of their intentions.”
“Unfortunately the good news will not be shared by everyone,” he told the BBC, saying several political prisoners had died in custody.
At least 20 more families of political prisoners gathered outside a military intelligence building in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday, desperately awaiting news of their loved ones, AFP news agency reported.
“We need answers,” said Sanjida Islam Tulee, coordinator of the campaign group Mayer Daak (Mothers’ Call).
Across the border in India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he was “deeply concerned until law and order is visibly restored” in Bangladesh, with which India shares a 4,096-km (2,545-mile) border and has close economic and cultural ties.
It gave the first official confirmation that Ms Hasina had applied to travel to India “at very short notice” and had subsequently arrived in Delhi.
India has also deployed additional troops along its border with Bangladesh.
“Our border guarding forces have also been instructed to be exceptionally vigilant in light of this complex situation,” Mr Jaishankar said.
