DHAKA: Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus, who is set to lead a caretaker government after mass protests ousted the premier, called on compatriots on Wednesday to be "ready to build the country", ahead of his hugely anticipated return.
The Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer will head the interim government after longtime and autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India, the presidency has said.
"Be calm and get ready to build the country," Yunus said on Wednesday in a statement, a day ahead of his expected arrival home from France, urging calm after weeks of violence in which at least 455 people were killed. "If we take the path of violence everything will be destroyed," he added.
The appointment came quickly after student leaders called on the 84-year-old Yunus to lead.
The decision was made in a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, the heads of the army, navy and air force and student leaders, the president's office said in a statement.
Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said on Wednesday that he hoped to swear in the interim government the following day and that he backed Yunus.
"I am certain that he will be able to take us through a beautiful democratic process and that we will benefit from this," Waker said.
Yunus will have the title of chief adviser, according to Nahid Islam, one of the leaders of Students Against Discrimination who participated in the meeting.
Yunus had travelled abroad earlier this year while on bail after being sentenced to six months in jail for a labour charge condemned as politically motivated, and which a Dhaka court on Wednesday acquitted him of. "I'm 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 at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris before his flight.
There are few other details about the planned government, including the role of the military, but Yunus has said he wants to hold elections "within a few" months.
"Let us make the best use of our new victory," he added on Wednesday. "Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes."
The president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, another demand of the student leaders and the former opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP). — AFP
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