August 8, 2024 9:40 PM.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government. Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to him at Bangabhaban in Dhaka this evening. Diplomats from various countries were present on the occasion.
Born on 28 June 1940, Mr Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, banker, and economist. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.
“I am looking forward to going back home, see what’s happening and how we can organise ourselves to get out of the trouble we are in,” he told reporters before boarding a flight at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport for Dubai where he was to connect to Dhaka.
Yunus, 84, was picked by President Mohammed Shahabuddin to lead the new interim government, a key demand of student demonstrators whose uprising drove Hasina, 76, to flee to India on Monday.
“I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm. Please refrain from all kinds of violence,” said Yunus, an economist and banker who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered fighting poverty with small loans to the general populace.
He has been hailed for bringing thousands out of poverty through Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983, and which makes small loans to businesspeople who would not qualify for regular bank loans.
Bangladesh’s military chief said on Wednesday the interim government headed by Yunus would be sworn in on Thursday night after he returns from Paris to take over the administration and try to restore stability.
General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a televised address on Wednesday afternoon that those responsible for the violence since Hasina’s resignation would be brought to justice.
The military chief, flanked by the chiefs of navy and air force, said he spoke to Yunus and would receive him at the airport on Thursday.
Zaman said he was hopeful that Yunus would take the situation to a “beautiful democratic” process.