Yunus: Build a new Bangladesh


In anguish: Relatives of the people who disappeared during the protest mourning as they demand justice. — Reuters

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus appealed for religious unity after embracing the weeping mother of a student shot dead by police, a flashpoint in mass protests that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

Nobel laureate Yunus, 84, returned from Europe this week to helm a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of ending disorder and enacting democratic reforms.

“Our responsibility is to build a new Bangladesh,” he said,

Several reprisal attacks against the country’s Hindu minority since autocratic ex-premier Hasina’s toppling have caused alarm in neighbouring India as well as fear at home.

Yunus called for calm during a visit to the northern city of Rangpur by invoking the memory of Abu Sayeed, the first student slain during last month’s unrest.

“Don’t differentiate by religion”, he said.

“Abu Sayeed is now in every home. The way he stood, we have to do the same,” he added. “There are no differences in Abu Sayeed’s Bangladesh.”

Sayeed, 25, was shot dead by police at close range on July 16 at the start of a police crackdown on student-led protests against Hasina’s government.

His mother sobbed as she clung to a visibly emotional Yunus, who had come to pay his respects alongside members of the “advisory” cabinet now administering the country.

Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India last Monday as protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule.

Her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.

Cabinet ministers left blindsided by her sudden fall have gone to ground, while several top appointees have been forced out of office.

The law ministry’s adviser Asif Nazrul said in a Facebook video post that Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan had resigned, after students warned him of “dire consequences” if he did not.

Nazrul, an adviser in the new caretaker government, urged protesters to remain peaceful.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder has also resigned but his resignation has not been accepted given the importance of the position, finance ministry adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said.

Days earlier, four deputy governors were forced to resign after about 300 to 400 bank officials protested against what they said was corruption by top officials.

The vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, ASM Maksud Kamal, has also resigned, the university said.

In the immediate aftermath of Hasina’s fall, some businesses and homes owned by Hindus were attacked, a group seen by some in Muslim-majority Bangladesh as having been her supporters.

Bangladeshi Hindus account for around 8% of the country’s population.

Hundreds have since arrived on India’s border, asking to cross.

More than 450 people were killed in the unrest leading up to Hasina’s departure, including dozens of police officers killed during clampdowns on demonstrations.

The caretaker administration Yunus helms has said that restoration of law and order is its “first priority”.

Complicating its efforts is a strike declared for tomorrow by the police union, saying its members would not return to work until their safety was assured.

Bangladesh’s police force said more than half of the country’s police stations had since reopened.

They are being guarded by soldiers from the army, an institution held in higher public regard than the police for opting not to forcibly quell the protests.

Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance.

He took office Thursday as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration, comprised of fellow civilians bar one retired brigadier-general, and has said he wants to hold elections “within a few months”. — Agencies

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