Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus is likely to lead an interim government in violence-hit Bangladesh. According to Dhaka Tribune, leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement proposed an interim government led by Yunus. Amid uncertainty loomed over Bangladesh's future after ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led government, key student leaders Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, and Abu Bakar Mazumdar released a video message in which they announced Yunus' name as the next prime minister of the country.
"We took 24 hours to announce a framework for the interim government. However, considering the emergency situation, we are announcing it now," Nahid said.
"We have decided that the interim government would be formed in which internationally renowned Nobel Laureate Dr Mohammad Yunus, who has wide acceptability, would be the chief adviser," said Nahid, flanked by two other coordinators.
Who is Muhammad Yunus?
Yunus, 83, a Nobel Laureate Professor, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering microcredit to help impoverished people, especially women, while the Grameen Bank, which he had founded, also secured the prize on the same occasion.
Yunus faces over 150 other cases, including major corruption charges that could see him jailed for years if found guilty while the economist denies all wrongdoing. In June, A Dhaka court indicted him for embezzling more than USD two million from the dividends of the employees of a telecom company. The prosecution has accused Yunus and the others of embezzling Taka 250 million (more than USD 2 million) from the workers welfare fund of Grameen Telecom.
Grameen Telecom owns a 34.2 per cent stake in Bangladesh's largest mobile phone operator, Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom giant Telenor. Earlier in January, Yunus was sentenced to six months in prison on a separate charge of violating labour laws but was granted bail while the sentence was challenged before the Supreme Court’s High Court Division.
Also read: Bangladesh: What's next for Sheikh Hasina after her resignation over massive protests?
