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Bangladesh will get an interim government today led by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus after the departure of Sheikh Hasina due to student protests

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Bangladesh will get an interim government today led by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus after the departure of Sheikh Hasina due to student protests

Mohammad Yunus is a fierce critic of Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh will today get an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign amid violent student protests.

Here are the key points about Bangladesh’s new interim government:

  1. Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s only Nobel laureate, is likely to be sworn in as chief adviser today along with a team of advisers.

  2. Mr Yunus, a fierce critic of Sheikh Hasina, arrived in Dhaka today from Paris, where he has been undergoing medical treatment.

  3. Before boarding a flight Wednesday evening, he told reporters: “I’m looking forward to going home and seeing what happens there and how we can organize to get out of the trouble we’re in.”

  4. The 84-year-old, who has largely kept out of politics, is known as the “banker of the poor” and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding a bank that pioneered the fight against poverty with small loans to needy borrowers.

  5. He was chosen to lead the interim government at a meeting of Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders and the heads of the Students Against Discrimination group.

  6. On Wednesday, a court overturned Yunus’ conviction in an employment case in which he was given a six-month prison sentence in January.

  7. The announcement of the new interim government was made shortly after Ms Hasina’s dramatic departure from the country she ruled for five terms.

  8. Ms Hasina, 76, fled to India and is currently seeking shelter at an air base near Delhi.

  9. Student protests against controversial government job quotas intensified in July and more than 250 people were killed and thousands injured as demonstrators clashed with security forces and supporters of Ms Hasina’s Awami League party.

  10. The protests were fueled by difficult economic conditions as well as political repression.