Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the nation’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who was sworn in this week following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, driven by weeks of protests and repression that left at least 400 dead.
The court’s confirmation of the interim government, made up of Yunus and more than a dozen civil society advisers, comes shortly after the son of the former president, known as the “Iron Lady” of Bangladesh, assured that Hasina has not formally resigned.
Bangladesh’s top court “has expressed the view that since the Prime Minister has resigned and the President has dissolved the National Parliament, a caretaker government can be formed to carry out the executive functions of the state,” it said in a statement.
The president of the nation, Mohammed Shahabuddin, “can therefore appoint the Principal Adviser – who acts as de facto prime minister – and other advisers of the provisional government and administer the oath,” according to the document published by the Supreme Court’s office.
The son and adviser to President Sheikh Hasina, Sajeeb Wazed, told EFE hours earlier that the Bangladeshi leader was “technically still the prime minister of Bangladesh.”
Although Hasina’s resignation was announced by the army on Monday amid a civil unrest calling for her ouster, US-based Wazed said Hasina wanted to resign “but did not have time” as a mob of protesters was heading to her official residence and she had to flee by helicopter.
The 5th marked the culmination of weeks of protests, which began as a student movement against a system of quotas for public employment considered discriminatory.
The spiral of violence caused by a police crackdown supported by supporters of Hasina’s Awami League and the response of students transformed the protest into a mass movement as the dead and wounded continued to arrive at morgues in the Asian country.
Wazed even said that his mother “wants to return to Bangladesh,” and that perhaps “the door to politics has not been closed for her.”
Yunus’s interim government, formed with the support of the military and the president, has not revealed a timetable for future elections.
But “technically,” Hasina’s son said, once parliament is dissolved, elections must be held within 90 days.
Bangladesh / EFE
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2024-08-13 04:27:45
