Muhammad Yunus Returns To Bangladesh To Lead New Government

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh on Thursday to assume leadership of a caretaker government following a student-led uprising that brought an end to Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

Yunus arrived in Dhaka on a flight from Paris via Dubai shortly after 2:00 pm (0800 GMT) and may be sworn in as the nation’s new leader as early as Thursday evening, marking the start of what the army chief has promised will be a “beautiful democratic process.”

The prospect of Yunus, 84, standing alongside military leaders was almost unimaginable a week ago when security forces fired deadly rounds at protesters who took to the streets demanding that Hasina resign.

But the military turned on Hasina at the weekend and she was forced to flee to neighboring India — as millions of Bangladeshis celebrated her demise.

The military then agreed to student demands that Yunus — who won the Nobel in 2006 for his pioneering microfinancing work — lead an interim government.

“I’m looking forward to going back home, see what’s happening and how we can organize ourselves to get out of the trouble we are in,” Yunus told reporters in Paris as he left for Dhaka.