Bangladesh Set To Get Interim Government Led By Nobel Winner Today
Bangladesh is set to get an interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus today, days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign amid violent student protests.
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- Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh's only Nobel laureate, is likely to be sworn in as chief adviser along with a team of advisers today.
- Mr Yunus, a harsh critic of Sheikh Hasina, is due to arrive in Dhaka from Paris today, where he had been receiving medical treatment.
- Speaking to reporters before boarding a flight on Wednesday evening, he said, "I'm looking forward to going back home and see what's happening there and how we can organise ourselves to get out of the trouble that we're in."
- The 84-year-old, who has mostly stayed away from politics, is known as the 'banker to the poor' and was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered fighting poverty with small loans to needy borrowers.
- He was chosen to lead the interim government during a meeting of Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders, and the heads of the Students Against Discrimination group.
- On Wednesday, a court overturned Mr Yunus' conviction in a labour case in which he was handed a six-month jail sentence in January.
- The announcement of the new interim government was made shortly after Ms Hasina's dramatic exit on Monday from the country she ruled for five terms.
- Ms Hasina, 76, fled to India and is currently taking shelter at an air base near Delhi.
- Student protests against controversial quotas for government jobs spiralled in July and more than 250 people were killed and thousands injured as protesters clashed with security forces and supporters of Ms Hasina's Awami League party.
- The protests were fuelled by tough economic conditions and political repression as well.
