Bangladesh was experiencing a “student-led revolution” after the ouster of premier Sheikh Hasina, the South Asian country’s new interim leader Muhammad Yunus said.
“This is a revolution, a student-led revolution,” the Nobel laureate told a news briefing on Sunday.
“There’s no doubt about (that) because the business of the whole government collapsed.”
Yunus, 84, arrived back in Bangladesh from Europe on Thursday after he was called by the student leaders of the protests that toppled Hasina and asked to steer democratic reforms.
“I said, ‘I respect you, I admire you. What you have done is absolutely unparallelled’,” he said.
“Because you ordered me to do this, I take your order’,” Yunus said he told them.
Several top allies of Hasina, whose iron-fisted tenure ended with her abrupt resignation and flight to neighbouring India a week ago, subsequently stepped down.
Among them were the former chief justice of the Supreme Court and the central bank governor.
They had been issued ultimatums to quit their posts by students but Yunus said their resignations had been conducted legally.
“They want to have a new court,” he said of the students. “So they went there and asked the chief justice to resign and put their pressure to make him resign.”
“I’m sure they will find the legal way to justify all of this, because legally… all the steps were followed,” he said.
‘The monster is gone’
Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter as protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her long rule.
Her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.
“Finally, this moment, the monster is gone,” Yunus said.
However, despite the groundswell of public goodwill towards him, Yunus warned that his interim government faced difficult decisions ahead.
“The moment you start taking decisions, some people will like your decisions, some people will not like your decisions,” he said. “Obviously, that’s the way it works.”
Yunus made the comments during an off-the-record media briefing on Sunday night at a state building being used as a temporary seat of government.
His office agreed to their publication on Monday evening.
Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.
He took office as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration — all fellow civilians bar a retired brigadier general.
He said last week that he wanted to hold elections “within a few months”.
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