DHAKA - Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus made an emotional return home to strife-torn Bangladesh on Aug 8 to lead a new interim government after weeks of tumultuous student protests forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the country.

       The South Asian nation’s only Nobel laureate and a harsh critic of Ms Hasina, Dr Yunus, 84, arrived in Dhaka following medical treatment in Paris, after protesters backed him for the role in a government tasked with holding elections for a new leader.

       “The country has the possibility of becoming a very beautiful nation,” the economist said at the airport, where he was greeted by top military officers and student leaders.

       The student protesters had saved the country and that freedom had to be protected, he said, adding: “Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that.”

       Dr Yunus was emotional, choked and seemed to hold back his tears as he referred to a student he said was shot during the protests, saying that sacrifice could not be forgotten.

       He was set to be sworn in as chief adviser along with a team of advisers on Aug 8 at the official residence of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

       Ms Hasina’s Awami League party does not figure in the interim government after she resigned on Aug 5, following weeks of violence that killed about 300 people and injured thousands.

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       In a Facebook post, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said the party had not given up, however, and was ready to hold talks with opponents and the interim government.

       “I had said my family will no longer be involved in politics but the way our party leaders and workers are being attacked, we cannot give up,” he said on Aug 7.

       Dr Yunus, known as the “banker to the poor”, was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered fighting poverty with small loans to needy borrowers.

       Ms Hasina’s dramatic exit from the country she ruled for 20 of the last 30 years – she won a fourth straight term in January – triggered jubilation and violence across Bangladesh, as crowds stormed and ransacked her official residence unopposed.

       She is sheltering in the New Delhi area, a development that Dr Yunus said caused anger towards India among some Bangladeshis.

       The neighbours have longstanding cultural and business ties and New Delhi played a key role in the 1971 war with Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh.

       India’s Foreign Ministry said it had no update on her travel plans and it was up to her to “take things forward”. Indian media has reported that Ms Hasina, who has good relations with New Delhi, may travel to Britain.

       Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called him on Aug 8 and the two discussed the situation in Bangladesh, but he did not elaborate.

       Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the interests of the people of Bangladesh were “foremost in our mind” and stability there was crucial for peace in the region.

       The student-led movement that ousted Ms Hasina grew out of protests against quotas in government jobs that spiralled in July, provoking a violent crackdown that drew global criticism, though the government denied using excessive force.

       The protests were fuelled also by harsh economic conditions and political repression in the country, born after the war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971.

       The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted two national elections after the arrest of its leaders, while the Covid-19 pandemic damaged the US$450 billion (S$597 billion) economy after years of strong growth, leading to high inflation, unemployment and shrinking reserves.

       It pushed the Hasina government to seek a US$4.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

       Dr Yunus and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Ms Hasina’s main political opponent, called for calm and an end to violence on Aug 7.

       “No destruction, revenge or vengeance,” BNP leader Khaleda Zia, 78, said in a video address from her hospital bed to hundreds of her supporters at a rally in Dhaka.

       Ms Zia, who was released from house arrest on Aug 6, and her exiled son Tarique Rahman, addressed the rally and called for national elections to be held within three months.

       On Aug 7, a court overturned Dr Yunus’ conviction in a labour case in which he was handed a six-month jail sentence in January. He had said his prosecution was political, part of a campaign by Ms Hasina to quash dissent.

       “Let us make the best use of our new victory,” Dr Yunus said. REUTERS