Md Yunus agrees to lead interim govt in Bangladesh after Parliament dissolution

Dhaka: Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus has agreed to spearhead the interim government in Bangladesh after mass protests forced long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country.

“I am honoured by the trust of the protesters who wish for me to lead the interim government,” he said in a written statement to AFP.

“If action is needed in Bangladesh, for my country and for the courage of my people, then I will take it,” he said, also calling for “free elections.”

This comes after key organisers of the Bangladeshi protest urged the 84-year-old to helm an interim government after President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved the parliament on Tuesday.

“We have decided that the interim government would be formed in which internationally renowned Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, who has wide acceptability, would be the chief adviser,” Nahid Islam, the main leader of Students Against Discrimination (SAD), said in a video message.

Yunus is a respected economist and has been credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his pioneering microfinance bank, but he earned the enmity of Hasina, who accused him of “sucking blood” from the poor.

Known as the “banker to the poorest of the poor,” Yunus was awarded the Peace Prize in 2006 for his work loaning small cash sums to rural women, allowing them to invest in farm tools or business equipment and boost their earnings.