Bangladesh Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Heads Transitional Government

A day after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country, the parliament in Dhaka was dissolved on August 6. Hasina, who held the post for 15 years, resigned and fled on August 5 after violent protests that lasted in the country more than a month and were caused by favoritism to people close to the government over access to public works positions, protests that resulted in numerous casualties.

According to the Dhaka Daily Star newspaper, President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved the parliament formed in the January 7 elections, and soon after, 84-year-old Muhammed Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, agreed to lead the interim government as chief adviser.

“When I was approached on behalf of the students, I initially refused. I told them I had a lot of work to finish. But students have asked me repeatedly,” Yunus told the Daily Star source.

Meanwhile, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption in 2018 and served her sentence under house arrest, has been released. This was reported by her own party, the Bangladesh National Party.