Days after the violent ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Interim government in Bangladesh will be sworn in tomorrow, the country’s army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced on Wednesday (7th August). During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, General Waker said that the interim government is likely to be sworn in at 8:00pm on Thursday. He also extended all cooperation to the interim government which would be headed by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus
General Waker added that the advisory council may have 15 members. He also hoped that normalcy would return in Bangladesh within three-four days claiming that the situation across the country is improving significantly, as reported by The Daily Star.
The Bangladesh Army Chief assured that all those who were involved in crimes over the past few days will not be spared and legal action will be taken against them. He added that the Air Force and Navy chief are with him and all of them are working together.
It is evident that even though a new interim government headed by an eminent economist will be installed in Dhaka, it will be under the control of the army.
It is pertinent to note that a day earlier, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved the Parliament and appointed Yunus as the head of an interim government. President Shahabuddin took the decision after holding a meeting with chiefs of the three services and a 13-member delegation of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement at Bangabhaban (presidential palace).
The president’s press secretary said that the other members of the interim government will be finalised after consultations with various political parties.
As per reports, the interim government members would be headed by Muhammad Yunus as its Principal Adviser. It will also include – Dr. Badiul Alam Mazumder, Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Dr. Asif Nazrul, Dr. Salimulilah Khan, Brigadier General Dr. Sakhawat Hossain, Major General Munirujzaman, Photographer Shahidul Alam, Syeda Rezwana Hasan, Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya, Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya and Prajesh Chakma.
Nonetheless, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement that led this ‘Hasina out’ campaign has earlier confirmed that 84-year-old Yunus had agreed to head the interim government.
Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. Yunus who is currently out of the country has described Sheikh Hasina’s ouster as the “second liberation” of the country. He said that he was looking forward to helping the country overcome its current turbulence.
“I’m looking forward to going back home, see what’s happening and how we can organise ourselves to get out of the trouble we are in,” Yunus told reporters before he boarded a Dubai-bound flight at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. From Dubai, he will take a connecting plane to Dhaka.
The development comes after the democratically elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign following weeks of social unrest, mob violence and arsoning by supporters of opposition party, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami demanding her resignation from the office. However, even after the announcement of an interim government, reports of attacks on supporters and cadres of erstwhile ruling party, Awami League and minority communities, particularly, Hindus and their temples have continued to flood social media.
