Nobel laureate to head Bangladesh’s interim government after Hasina’s fall

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Written by Super User

Category: Asia

Published: 07 August 2024

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DHAKA - Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus will be the new leader of Bangladesh’s interim government after the dramatic exit of long-time prime minister Sheikh Hasina following a popular uprising.

Mr Yunus, who is an 84-year-old acclaimed economist and one of the most prominent political rivals of Ms Hasina, has been announced as the chief adviser of the interim government by president Mohammed Shahabuddin’s press secretary.

His appointment was favoured by student protest leaders who have led a mass movement against Ms Hasina since late June and rejected any possibilities of accepting a military-led government.

Mr Yunus will be in charge of restoring normalcy in violence-hit Bangladesh after a protest started against a quota system in government jobs turned into anger against the long-running government of Ms Hasina, leaving almost 400 people dead in mass demonstrations.

The decision came during a meeting that included military chiefs, organisers of the student protests, prominent business leaders, and civil society members.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Yunus urged everyone to stay calm and refrain from violence. “I congratulate the brave students who took the lead in making our Second Victory Day possible and to the people for giving your total support to them. Let us make the best use of our new victory. Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes,” he said.

“This is our beautiful country with lots of exciting possibilities. We must protect and make it a wonderful country for us and for our future generations,” he said.

In a separate statement, Prof Yunus said he was initially reluctant to accept the student’s request but agreed “given the sacrifices of the students, especially those who have lost their lives for our nation’s liberation”.

“I am not in a position to say no to them,” he said, according to the Financial Times.

But he said he has no intention to seek any elected or appointed office beyond his role as chief adviser for the interim period.

“In the coming days, I will talk with all of the relevant parties about how we can work together to rebuild Bangladesh and how they can help,” he added.

“It is critical that trust in government be restored quickly,” Mr Yunus added.

Other members of the new government would be decided by Wednesday after discussions with political parties and other stakeholders to overcome the current crisis and pave way for elections, student leaders have said.

Mr Yunus is in Paris and will be returning to Dhaka.

Mr Yunus, awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, is an economist and banker who mostly stayed away from politics as he spent much of his time in courtrooms defending the more than 100 cases filed against him under the Hasina administration. His supporters describe these cases as a politically motivated vendetta designed to undermine his position as a potential rival.

Mr Yunus won the Nobel for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, particularly women. He is known as the “banker to the poor” for founding Grameen Bank and pioneering microcredit.

Mr Yunus has never run for office but considered forming a new political party in 2007 after the Bangladesh government split up and the military seized power. But he scrapped the idea within a few weeks.

In January he was sentenced to six months in jail after he was convicted of violating labour laws, in a trial that was criticised as politically motivated ahead of the country’s general election.

He, however, remains a respected figure in Bangladesh and has an international clout among elite businessmen, economists, heads of governments, and European royals.

The president on Tuesday dissolved parliament paving the way for the new interim government after student protesters’ ultimatum threatening more protests.

Mr Shahabuddin also ordered the release of opposition leader Khaleda Zia, a longtime Hasina rival who was convicted of corruption charges in 2018, from her house arrest.

Hundreds of people gathered at a rally in Dhaka called by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, whose leader and former prime minister Ms Zia, 78, was freed from house arrest by the president on Tuesday.

Appearing via video link, Ms Zia vowed to uphold democracy and not indulge in revenge politics.

Meanwhile the ousted prime minister, who is currently taking refuge in India, was reported to be exploring options to seek asylum in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Finland.

Ms Hasina’s focus appeared to have moved away from her preferred choices of the UK or the US, with reports suggesting she did not receive a favourable response from either.

Her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who has been speaking to the media on behalf of the family since Ms Hasina’s resignation, denied that his mother had sought asylum in the UK or another country. He told NDTV that she could yet travel to meet her family members in the US, the UK or Finland.

Bangladesh’s PM flees country amid deadly riots

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Written by Super User

Category: Asia

Published: 05 August 2024

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DAKHA - The prime minister of Bangladesh has resigned and fled the country for a “safer place” amid violent protests demanding her resignation.

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters stormed Sheikh Hasina’s palace in Dhaka’s capital on Monday.

Bangladesh’s army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman said Monday he would “form an interim government”.

Local network Channel 24 broadcasted images of crowds running into the premier’s official residence in the capital, waving to the camera as they celebrated.

Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence that began last month after student groups demanded scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs.

That escalated into a campaign to seek the ousting of Ms Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.

At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in a wave of violence across the country of 170 million people as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters. The total death toll from the unrest has reached 280.

Ms Hasina and her younger sister left the country in a military helicopter on Monday, Bangladesh’s top newspaper Dhaka Tribune reported.

“She and her sister have left Ganabhaban (the premier’s official residence) for a safer place,” a source told AFP. “She wanted to record a speech. But she could not get an opportunity to do that.”

Protesters on Monday defied security forces enforcing a curfew, marching on the capital’s streets after the deadliest day of unrest since demonstrations erupted last month.

Internet access was tightly restricted on Monday, offices were closed and more than 3,500 factories servicing Bangladesh’s economically vital garment industry were shut.

Soldiers and police with armoured vehicles in Dhaka had barricaded routes to Hasina’s office with barbed wire but vast crowds flooded the streets, tearing down barriers.

The Business Standard newspaper estimated as many as 400,000 protesters were on the streets.

“The time has come for the final protest,” said Asif Mahmud, one of the key leaders in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign.

India landslides: death toll passes 100 with dozens feared missing

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Written by Super User

Category: Asia

Published: 30 July 2024

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NEW DELHI - At least 108 people have died and dozens more are missing after heavy rain led to a series of landslides in the Indian state of Kerala, with rescue operations hampered by poor weather conditions and the destruction of roads and bridges.

The Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, confirmed the bodies of 108 people had been uncovered so far and dozens more were missing, feared dead after three massive landslides surged down the hills of the Western Ghats in Wayanad in southern India. About 128 people were injured in the disaster and thousands were moved to camps for safety.

The landslides took place in the early hours of the morning amid heavy rainfall. Hundreds of people were asleep in homes that were swept away or crushed as a river of mud, rocks and uprooted trees swept down the steep hilly terrain. Many migrant labourers working on nearby tea and cardamom plantations had been staying in temporary homes and tents that were easily washed away.

In a statement, Vijayan described the incident as “one of the worst natural calamities Kerala has ever witnessed”.

“Among the victims were children who lost their lives while they were asleep during the wee hours, highlighting the harrowing impact of this disaster. Many residents fled in terror … the damage to homes and livelihoods is immense,” said the chief minister.

Many were still missing and feared to have been engulfed in the deadly flow of muddy water that gushed through the area. Rescuers said the death toll was likely to rise.

Access to the affected sites remained difficult for rescuers amid heavy monsoon rain and destroyed roads, with at least four villages still completely cut off.

More than 200 soldiers were deployed to help in the rescue operation and the army was asked to build a temporary crossing after a bridge in the district that linked the affected forest area to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed. A weather red alert meant that helicopters were not allowed to be deployed to help.

“The situation is serious. The government has pressed all agencies into rescue,” the forests minister, AK Saseendran, told reporters.

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was monitoring the disaster and pledged a full rescue effort to find those still trapped in the debris.

The opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, the former MP for Wayanad, said he was “deeply anguished” by the massive landslides. “My heartfelt condolences go out to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones. I hope those still trapped are brought to safety soon,” he wrote on X.

The south Indian state has increasingly been hit by flooding and landslides caused by irregular and intense rainfall during monsoon seasons.

In August 2018, almost 500 people died after severe flooding across the state owing to unusually heavy rainfall, the worst floods in a century.