Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin (left) administers the oath of office to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the leader of the country’s interim government at a ceremony in Dhaka on August 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP
A 17-member Bangladesh interim government under the leadership of Noble Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus took oath on Thursday (August 7, 2024), three days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted and fled the country.
Bangladesh President Mohammad Shahabuddin administered the oath to the 84-year-old chief adviser Prof. Yunus at 9.20 p.m., followed by the Cabinet members, at a ceremony attended by politicians including BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader Amir Shafiqur Rahman and Jatiya Party chairman Ghulam Muhammed Quader, diplomats from the U.K., Japan, China, Philippines, Iran, Argentina, Qatar, The Netherlands and the UAE, civil society figures and senior civil and military officials at Bangabhaban Presidential Palace. Prof. Yunus reached Bangabhaban at 8.45 p.m. No one from the Awami League was seen at Bangabhaban.
Thirteen out of the 16 advisers of the interim government also took oath after Prof. Yunus. Theye were: Dr. Saleh Uddin Ahmed, Dr. Asif Nazrul, Adilur Rahman Khan, Hasan Arif, Tauhid Hossain, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Brig. Gen. (retd.) M. Sakhawat Hossain, Farida Akhtar, Bidhan Ranjan Roy, Dr. A.F.M. Khalid Hossain, Nurjahan Begum, Sharmin Murshid, Nahid Islam (student representative) and Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan (students’ representative).
The other three advisers — Supradip Chakma, Bidhan Ranjan Roy and Farooqui Azam — were not present at the ceremony as they were outside of Dhaka that time.
As the Prime Minister’s Office and official residence Gono Bhaban remain in shambles, the State Guest House, Jamuna, will be the office and residence of Prof. Yunus.
A committee will be formed to assess the damage to these two important installations, and renovation will begin soon afterwards.
Earlier in the day, after landing in Bangladesh from a trip to France, Prof. Yunus, gave an emotional speech recalling the sacrifices made by students whose protests were met with a heavy-hand by the Hasina-led government.
At a press conference at the Dhaka airport, he addressed the people of Bangladesh as “one big family”, and said that the young protesters had given them a “new birth”. Also, he condemned the recent violence directed against the country’s religious minorities over the last two days.
“My first word to you is to protect the country from disorder. Protect it from violence so we can follow the path our students have shown us,” he said.
Restoring stability and stopping anarchy, arson, destructive activities has become forepoint in Bangladesh as attacks, looting and destructive activities persisted yesterday as well in many part of the country, in absence of government and enforcement agencies.
However, the Bangladesh Army, alongside other armed forces and law enforcement agencies, decided to take strict action to stop the ongoing anarchy, arson attacks, and destructive activities across the country.
Following the newly appointed Inspector-General of Police’s call to return to duty within 24 hours, some police personnel have started to report back, but many others are waiting for security assurances before returning to their posts. Many force members fear violent reprisals from the public after having opened fire on protesters and the general public under the Hasina regime.
During a regular briefing in Washington on Wednesday (August 7, 2024), Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, said that the United States believes the interim government should respect democratic principles, the rule of law, and the will of the Bangladeshi people. Mr. Miller also mentioned that they think the interim government will play a vital role in establishing long-term peace and political stability in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Shamsus Sadat Selim, head of the APD Wing and additional secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, confirmed that all contractual appointments of officials made during the tenure of the recently ousted Awami League government are set to be cancelled. Also, there is a growing demand to remove other officials who benefited from the last government’s tenure from key positions.
