• Cabinet includes one brigadier, top student leaders
• Yunus vows to restore law and order; India, US and EU welcome new leader

DHAKA: Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on Thursday as Bangladesh’s interim leader, vowing to guide the country back to democracy after a student-led uprising ended the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina earlier this week.

Yunus, who only returned to the country hours earlier, swore to “uphold, support and protect the constitution”, in front of political and civil society leaders, generals and diplomats at the presidential palace.

“Today is a glorious day for us,” the 84-year-old told reporters when he returned to Dhaka from Europe.

“Bangladesh has created a new victory day. Bangladesh has got a second independence.”

“Law and order is our first task... We cannot take a step forward unless we fix the law and order situation,” he said.

More than a dozen members of his cabinet - given the title of advisers, not ministers - also took oath. The group included two top leaders of the Students Against Discrimination group that led the weeks-long protests, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud.

Others included a former foreign secretary, a former attorney general, an environmental lawyer, and prominent rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who was sentenced to two years in jail during Hasina’s rule.

The caretaker administration is a civilian team, bar one retired brigadier-general.

Yunus was choked with emotion Thursday as he recalled the killing of student activist Abu Sayeed, shot dead in July by police from close range.

He paid tribute to the youth who sparked the protest movement and those who risked all for their desire for change.

“They protected the nation and gave it a new life”, he said.

During Hasina’s reign, Yunus was hit with more than 100 criminal cases and a smear campaign by a state-led Islamic agency that accused him of promoting homosexuality.

Yunus had travelled abroad this year while on bail after being sentenced to six months in jail on a charge condemned as politically motivated. A Dhaka court acquitted him of that charge on Wednesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his “best wishes” to Yunus, saying New Delhi - which had close ties with Hasina - was “committed” to working with Dhaka.

The United States and European Union also voiced readiness to work with the interim government, with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller saying Washington hoped to work together as Bangladesh “charts a democratic future”.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2024