The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus has been sworn in as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government three days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to neighboring India.
Apart from this, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, two key organisers of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement were also part of the 16-member advisory council took the oath during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Dhaka.
The advisory council members are: Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of BELA; Farida Akhtar, women’s rights activist; Adilur Rahman Khan, founder of Odhikar; AFM Khalid Hossain, Hefazat-e-Islam nayeb-e-ameer and Islami Andolan Bangladesh adviser; Nurjahan Begum, Grameen Telecom trustee; Sharmeen Murshid, freedom fighter; Bir Pratik Faruk-e-Azam; Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, DU students and key organisers of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Movement; Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of Bangladesh Bank; Prof Asif Nazrul, Dhaka University law professor; AF Hassan Ariff, former attorney general and adviser of Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government; Brigadier General (retired) M Sakhawat Hossain; Supradip Chakma, chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB); Prof Bidhan Ranjan Roy, director of the National Institute of Mental Health & Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry; Touhid Hossain, former foreign secretary.
Supradip Chakma, Bidhan Ranjan Roy, and Faruk-e-Azam are outside the capital, so they could not be sworn in today.
During this period political leaders, civil society leaders, generals, and diplomats were present at the program. No representatives of Hasina’s Awami League party were present at the ceremony.
“I will uphold, support and protect the constitution,” Yunus said as he was administered the oath by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, adding that he will perform his duties “sincerely”.
Prof Muhammad Yunus who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work developing microcredit markets, was in the French capital for the 2024 Olympics when he was chosen for the interim role and returned home earlier on Thursday to tight security at the airport in Dhaka.
In his first comments after his arrival, he said at a news briefing that his priority would be to restore order. “Bangladesh is a family. We have to unite it,” Yunus said while flanked by student leaders. “It has immense possibility.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his “best wishes” to Yunus, saying New Delhi was “committed” to working with neighboring Dhaka.
My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on the assumption of his new responsibilities,” Modi wrote on the social media platform X. “India remains committed to working with Bangladesh to fulfil the shared aspirations of both our peoples for peace, security and development.
The United States also welcomed the new interim government in Bangladesh, saying it hoped to work together to advance democracy.
“We welcome Dr Yunus’s call for an end to the recent violence and we stand ready to work with the interim government and Dr Yunus as it charts a democratic future for the people of Bangladesh,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
He said that the highest-ranking US diplomat in Bangladesh, Helen LaFave, attended the inauguration ceremony and has been in touch with the interim government.