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Scholar protesters in Bangladesh have referred to as for Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to be named chief adviser of a brand new interim authorities after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the nation within the face of a preferred rebellion.
Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the nation for a complete of 20 years, was ousted with startling pace on Monday after weeks of violent protests over an unpopular job quota scheme swelled right into a youth-led motion that demanded she step down.
The Dhaka Tribune reported that a minimum of 135 individuals died on Monday as 1000’s of protesters demanding Sheikh Hasina stop marched on her residence and took management of the streets of Dhaka, the capital.
Military chief Waker-Uz-Zaman mentioned the army would maintain talks with President Mohammed Shahabuddin and political social gathering representatives on forming a brand new authorities. Shahabuddin additionally ordered the discharge of jailed ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia and pupil protesters.
“Now we have determined that an interim authorities will probably be shaped by which internationally famend Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, who has vast acceptability, would be the chief adviser,” Nahid Islam, an organiser of the Anti-Discrimination Scholar Motion, mentioned in a video assertion.
“Now we have spoken to Dr Muhammad Yunus and, on the name of the scholars and to guard Bangladesh, Dr Muhammad Yunus has determined to tackle the accountability.” Yunus couldn’t be reached for remark.
Yunus, 84, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, is the founding father of pioneering microlender Grameen Financial institution and one of many south Asian nation’s most outstanding figures. He has confronted a number of court docket circumstances as a part of what his supporters described as a politically motivated vendetta by Sheikh Hasina, who noticed him as a possible rival.
The deposed Bangladeshi chief and her sister Sheikh Rehana arrived at a army base close to New Delhi on Monday night, native media reported. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities, which noticed Hasina as an vital regional ally, has not commented on her whereabouts.
In response to some experiences, Sheikh Hasina plans to hunt refuge within the UK, the place her sister lives and her niece, Tulip Siddiq, is an MP with the ruling Labour social gathering and serves as financial secretary to the Treasury.
Nevertheless, British officers performed down the prospect of Sheikh Hasina being welcomed within the UK, noting there was no provision within the nation’s immigration guidelines permitting any individual — even a fleeing prime minister — to journey to the UK to hunt asylum or short-term refuge.
Britain’s coverage is to induce anybody looking for worldwide safety to say asylum within the first secure nation they attain because the quickest path to security, mentioned the officers, who requested anonymity.
Sheikh Hasina’s ousting has thrown Bangladesh’s turbulent politics and struggling financial system into additional disarray. The prime minister, who claimed a fifth time period in energy this yr after a disputed election, had dominated with an more and more authoritarian hand.
On Monday, as information of Sheikh Hasina’s flight unfold, protesters attacked and looted her former residence, amongst different buildings, information footage confirmed, in scenes that recalled the 2022 rebellion in Sri Lanka that overthrew president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Folks additionally attacked statues of Sheikh Hasina’s father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the topic of a character cult promoted by the prime minister and her Awami League social gathering.
The protest motion was sparked by a quota system reserving coveted civil service jobs for particular teams, together with descendants of veterans who served within the nation’s 1971 civil struggle by which it break up from Pakistan. About 300 individuals had been killed in a crackdown on the demonstrations within the weeks earlier than Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
“There may be numerous anger and frustration and really excessive expectations that all the unhealthy issues which have been executed will probably be addressed rapidly,” mentioned Badiul Alam Majumdar, activist and secretary of Shujan: Residents for Good Governance, a non-governmental organisation.
“Violence and taking revenge is just not acceptable and that should cease,” he added. “Now we have a brand new starting.”
Further reporting by Jyotsna Singh in New Delhi
