Bangladesh Protests: Diverse challenges in store for Nobel Laureate Yunus

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has been appointed as the head of the interim government in Bangladesh, faces an uphill task of running the administration by managing diverse voices, ranging from civil society members to Islamists, besides the military, said experts.

Following a proposal from the student movement's coordinators, Yunus' name was finalised late on Tuesday as the head of the interim government. The government will be formed once decisions regarding the other members are made.

The interim government will be sworn in on Thursday, the Bangladesh Army chief announced on Wednesday.


At a press conference on Tuesday, Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir urged the president to dissolve parliament and form an impartial interim government "by today without delay". "Otherwise, the country might face a political vacuum again."

In the past Yunus did not enjoy a good rapport with India. His efforts to garner India's support to lead a regime in Dhaka did not yield results for decades, according to the people cited earlier. Yunus may have made some overtures to India recently, too, before Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister on Monday after weeks of violent protests, they said.

They also said that there are apprehensions that the interim government might be hijacked by the Jamaat-e-Islami and forced to implement its radical agenda.