Nobel winner Yunus sworn in to lead Bangladesh interim government

DHAKA

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sworn into office Thursday as Bangladesh's interim leader, vowing to guide the country back to democracy after a student-led uprising ended the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina.

Yunus, who only returned home hours earlier, swore to "uphold, support and protect the constitution", in front of political and civil society leaders, generals and diplomats at the presidential palace.

"Today is a glorious day for us," Yunus, 84, told reporters when he returned to Dhaka from Europe.

"Bangladesh has created a new victory day. Bangladesh has got a second independence."

Yunus called for the restoration of order in the South Asian nation after weeks of violence that left at least 455 people dead, calling on citizens to guard each other, including minorities who came under attack.

"Law and order is our first task... We cannot take a step forward unless we fix the law and order situation," he said.

"My call to the people is if you have trust in me, then make sure there will be no attacks against anyone, anywhere in the country."

"Every person is our brother... our task is to protect them," Yunus said, adding that "the whole of Bangladesh is one big family".

More than a dozen members of his cabinet — given the title of advisers, not ministers — also took the oath.

The group included two top leaders of the Students Against Discrimination group that led the weeks-long protests, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud.

Others included a former foreign secretary, a former attorney general, an environmental lawyer, and prominent rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who was sentenced to two years in jail during Hasina's rule.

The caretaker administration is a civilian team, bar one retired brigadier-general.

Hasina, accused of widespread human rights abuses including the jailing of her political opponents, was forced to flee to neighbouring India on Monday as masses of protesters flooded Dhaka's streets.

The military then agreed to student demands that Yunus — who won the Nobel prize in 2006 for his pioneering microfinancing work — lead an interim government.

Yunus choked with emotion Thursday as he recalled the killing of student activist Abu Sayeed, shot dead in July by police from close range.

He paid tribute to the youth who sparked the protest movement and those who risked all for their desire for change.

"They protected the nation and gave it a new life", he said.

  'Beautiful democratic process' 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his "best wishes" to Yunus, saying New Delhi — which had close ties with Hasina — was "committed" to working with Dhaka.

The United States and European Union also voiced readiness to work with the interim government, with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller saying Washington hoped to work together as Bangladesh "charts a democratic future".

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

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

Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said Wednesday he supported Yunus.

"I am certain that he will be able to take us through a beautiful democratic process," Waker said.

Bangladeshis voiced hope for the future at a rally in Dhaka on Wednesday for the former opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), whose chairperson, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, 78, was released from years of house arrest.

"I expect that the country is run in a nice way, and the police force is reformed so that they can't harass people," Moynul Islam Pintu told AFP.

Monday's events were the culmination of more than a month of unrest, which began as protests against a quota plan for government jobs but morphed into an anti-Hasina movement.

"The protests are a seismic moment in Bangladesh history," said International Crisis Group analyst Thomas Kean.

"The country really had been at risk of becoming a one-party state, and through a peaceful street-based movement led by Gen Z students in their 20s, they've managed to force her from power."

  Military move 

The military's switching of allegiance was the decisive factor in her ouster. It has since acceded to a range of demands from the student leaders.

The president on Tuesday dissolved parliament and sacked the head of the police force, who protesters had blamed for leading Hasina's crackdown.

The new chief, Mainul Islam, offered an apology Wednesday for the conduct of officers and vowed a "fair and impartial investigation" into the killings of "students, common people and the police".

Besides Zia, some other political prisoners were freed.

The military has demoted some generals seen as close to Hasina and sacked Ziaul Ahsan, a commander of the feared Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.