Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been chosen to head the Bangladesh’s interim government after the nation’s longtime prime minister resigned and fled abroad in the face of violent unrest against her rule. Known as the “banker to the poorest of the poor” and a longtime critic of the ousted Sheikh Hasina , Yunus will act as a caretaker premier until new elections are held. The decision followed a meeting late Tuesday that included student protest leaders, military leaders, civil society members and business leaders.
Hasina was forced to flee on Monday after weeks of protests and her departure has plunged Bangladesh into a political crisis. The army has temporarily taken control, but it is unclear what its role would be in an interim government after the president dissolved parliament on Tuesday to pave the way for elections. Student leaders who organised the protests had wanted Yunus, who is now in Paris for the Olympics as an adviser to its organisers, to lead an interim government.
He could not immediately be reached by the Associated Press for comment, but key student leader Nahid Islam said that Yunus agreed to step in during a discussion with them. The 83-year-old is a well-known critic and political opponent of Hasina. Yunus called her resignation the country’s “second liberation day.
” She once called him a “bloodsucker.” In January, Yunus was convicted of violating Bangladesh’s labour laws in a trial decried by his supporters as politically motivated.