2024-08-06 08:14:57
A leader of the student protests has spoken out in support of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid resigned and fled the country amid weeks of mass protests. (84 years old) served as head of the interim government. Nahid Islam, leader of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD), said Yunus, who is “internationally recognized, is widely recognized to become a senior adviser to the interim government”.
Islam made the comments in a video message on Tuesday. Sheikh Hasina fled the South Asian country on Monday after 15 years in power. Chief of Army Staff Wak Uz Zaman announced the formation of an interim government. He is scheduled to meet with student leaders on Tuesday.
At least 109 people died in violent protests against Hasina and her government on Monday alone, police and doctors said on Tuesday. It was the bloodiest day since mass protests in early July. According to data obtained by AFP, at least 409 people have died.
Demonstrators initially took to the streets to oppose a quota system for allocating public sector jobs, which they said favored Hasina’s supporters. Gradually, the resignation of the head of the government who took office in 2009 became the target of the protest movement, and more and more people from all walks of life joined it.
Yunus, 84, founded Grameen Bank in the 1980s to provide small loans to Bangladesh’s poorest people, helping millions of people escape poverty. In 2006, the economist won the Nobel Peace Prize for this work. He has long been considered a possible political rival of Prime Minister Hasina, who has called him a “vampire”.
“We trust Dr. Yunus,” Asif Mahmud, another leader of the SAD student movement, said on Facebook. Yunus is currently in Europe. A close aide said on Monday that Yunus had not yet received an offer from the military to lead an interim government.
Hasina, 76, was confirmed in an election in January but was boycotted by much of the opposition. Her government has been accused of abusing state institutions to maintain power and suppress government critics, including extrajudicial killings of opposition figures. Millions of people have taken to the streets in recent weeks calling for her resignation.
Earlier this year, ahead of controversial parliamentary elections, Yunus was sentenced to six months in prison and fined by a court in his home country for alleged labor law violations with the company’s nonprofit arm. Yunus’ supporters criticized the verdict as politically motivated. In total, more than a hundred cases have been filed against Yunus, accusing him of labor law violations, fraud and corruption. Yunus has always maintained his innocence.
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