After a tumultuous week in Bangladesh, an interim authorities is now in place to start the tough work of bringing stability and order to the South Asian nation.
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Printed Aug 11, 2024 • 4 minute learn
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(Bloomberg) — After a tumultuous week in Bangladesh, an interim authorities is now in place to start the tough work of bringing stability and order to the South Asian nation.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will helm the short-term authorities made up of a crew of 16 different advisers, together with two leaders of the student-protest motion that swept the nation in current weeks.
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The inauguration of the short-term authorities on Thursday dropped at an finish a four-day energy vacuum after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India following avenue protests that left a whole bunch useless.
The folks serving to Yunus’s new authorities embody the overall who oversaw Hasina’s exit, in addition to a veteran civil servant. The son of Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia can also be rising as a key voice.
Right here’s a better take a look at a number of the key figures who’re tasked with shaping Bangladesh’s future:
Muhammad Yunus, 84
Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work on microfinance, is now the principal chief accountable for rebuilding Bangladesh after he was sworn in because the interim authorities’s chief adviser, a rank equal to prime minister.
His appointment to the submit meets a chief demand of the scholar protesters in Dhaka. He faces the enormous job of restoring regulation and order following weeks of violence.
Yunus suffered authorized peril by the hands of Hasina’s authorities, was charged with crimes that he denied and that human-rights legal professionals known as politically motivated. He has often been portrayed as Hasina’s nemesis. Yunus described Hasina’s regime as a “merciless authoritarian” authorities and her downfall as a “second liberation.”
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Waker-Uz-Zaman, 57
Zaman was appointed military chief on June 23 by Hasina — days earlier than a fledging pupil protest that grew into the full-fledged anti-government motion. He has known as for calm within the wake of the protest motion and is anticipated to assist forestall reprisal killings after Hasina’s exit.
Earlier than Yunus took over, Zaman mentioned the Bangladesh military would cooperate with the interim administration. The involvement of the military within the new authorities has put a highlight on Bangladesh’s historical past of navy takeovers within the wake of political turmoil, although the navy has not explicitly known as their involvement a coup.
Zaman mentioned on tv that he’s taking duty for the nation. He mentioned he has been working with the civilian president and listening to a number of the calls for of the scholars. He additionally admitted failures in regulation enforcement after Hasina’s exit.
Salehuddin Ahmed, 79
Ahmed will lead the finance ministry within the interim authorities, taking part in a key function in attempting to stabilize the financial system. He started his profession as a trainer earlier than changing into a civil servant and has served as an financial adviser each nationally and internationally.
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In 2005, throughout the coalition authorities of the Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion and the Jamaat-e-Islami, he was appointed governor of the nation’s central financial institution, a place he held till April 2009. Earlier than his place at Bangladesh Financial institution, Ahmed was the managing director of Palli Karma-Sahayak Basis, a government-owned funding company for microcredit operations in Bangladesh.
He’s usually criticized the central financial institution for failing to enhance governance within the banking sector and cut back mortgage delinquencies. His appointment got here days earlier than the central financial institution governor resigned.
Ahmed obtained his PhD in economics from McMaster College in Canada in 1978.
Nahid Islam, 26
One of many youngest of the brand new advisers, Islam was a key determine within the mass rebellion that led to the collapse of Hasina’s authorities. The sociology pupil at Dhaka College was detained at the least twice and mentioned he was tortured by safety forces in July throughout anti-government protests. Authorities mentioned he was taken into secure custody.
Islam, who will head the Telecommunications and Info Expertise ministry, mentioned one of many essential targets of the interim authorities can be to determine a “democratic surroundings” via free and honest elections. He additionally pledged to reform state companies, together with the nation’s Election Fee.
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“The folks of Bangladesh have lengthy been disadvantaged of their voting rights,” he mentioned. “The brand new authorities will work to carry again folks’s voting rights.”
A second pupil protest chief, Asif Mahmud, 26, has additionally been appointed to Yunus’s crew and can head the Ministry of Youth and Sports activities.
Asif Nazrul, 58
A regulation professor at Dhaka College, Nazrul constructed his fame as a political commentator on TV discuss exhibits, usually as a fierce critic of Hasina’s authorities. Earlier than his educating function, he labored for a weekly journal and briefly served as a authorities administrator.
He’ll head the regulation ministry within the interim authorities.
Through the anti-government demonstrations he was usually seen alongside protest leaders. Nazrul helped form the define of the interim authorities and described Hasina’s regime as a “darkish period.”
Tarique Rahman, 56
Rahman is re-emerging as a distinguished voice in Bangladesh’s politics. He’s the son of Hasina’s political rival Khaleda Zia, chief of the opposition BNP, who was launched from jail final week. Rahman, who lives in exile in London, described Hasina as a “killer” in a current speech and known as on authorities to carry fast elections.
In 2018, Rahman was sentenced to life imprisonment for his alleged function in a grenade assault on Hasina and her occasion colleagues that killed 24 folks in 2004. Rahman celebrated Hasina’s downfall and congratulated protesters on the mass rebellion.
His future relationship with the interim authorities hinges on how quickly the election is held, with a delayed election more likely to create a battle between the federal government and his occasion.
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