Bangladesh: Yunus arrives in Dhaka, calls for law and order

Dhaka: Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus returned to Bangladesh on Thursday to take office as the head of an interim government after a student-led uprising forced Sheikh Hasina to end her more than 15-year rule.

Yunus, 84, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon, where he was greeted by the country's military chief Waker-uz-Zaman and other defense leaders.

"Today is a glorious day for us," he told reporters at the airport.

"Bangladesh has created a new victory day. Bangladesh has got a second independence."

Yunus could be sworn in as soon as Thursday evening — marking the beginning of what the army chief pledged would be a "beautiful democratic process."

Just a week ago, the Bangladeshi military was shooting at students protesting against Hasina's government, killing at least 300 people.

In his first speech after arriving back in Dhaka, Yunus called on Bangladeshis to restore law and order across the country.

"Law and order is our first task... We cannot take a step forward unless we fix the law and order situation," he said.

"My call to the people is if you have trust in me, then make sure there will be no attacks against anyone, anywhere in the country."

Yunus said recent attacks against religious minorities including Hundus were part of a conspiracy.

"Every person is our brother... our task is to protect them," he said, adding that "the whole of Bangladesh is one big family."

Yunus plans to hold elections within a few months.

Flanked by student leaders, Yunus said Bangladesh was a country of "immense possibility."

He said the student protesters "protected the nation and gave it a new life" and choked up when he recalled the death of young activist Abu Sayeed, who was shot dead by police from close range last month.

"Bangladesh can be a beautiful country, but we destroyed the possibilities," Yunus added.

"Now we have to build a seedbed again — the new seedbed will be built by them," he said, gesturing to the young student supporters.

The lauded professor is currently the only name that instills confidence in students and citizens, Bangladeshi journalist Mainul Islam Khan told DW in an interview. He added that people were "eagerly waiting for him to take charge of the country."

Once sworn in, Yunus is set to face huge challenges, Khan said. "The first challenge is to restore security in the country to send the students back to the classrooms and the people back to their homes."

Another is to fill positions in several key government positions where officials have resigned in the last few weeks.  

The biggest challenge, however, is to fulfill the students' key demand — reform in all sectors.

"It is very early to say how much time he will need to reform the important sectors including the Election Commission and then call for an election," Khan said.

Earlier on Wednesday, a tribunal in Dhaka acquitted Yunus in a labor law violation case that many believed to be politically motivated. He was sentenced to six months in prison but he had been allowed to remain on bail while filing an appeal.

Another rival of Hasina, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, also saw her conviction overturned by presidential decree on Tuesday, letting her hold her first public address in six years.

While the protests originally focused on quotas in government jobs, they quickly morphed into an anti-Hasina movement once she deployed the forces against civilians.

The military eventually turned on Hasina after weeks of violent clashes, forcing the prime minister to flee to neighboring India in a helicopter.

However, the military switched sides over the weekend and Hasina was forced to flee to neighboring India.

Protestors celebrated her political demise by storming her official residence Ganabhaban, in Dhaka. Thousands engaged in vandalism and looted everything on site from raw food to clothes, furniture, art and gadgets. A further 100 people were killed as violence continued after Hasina's departure.

The military then agreed to students' demand to install Yunus — winner of the 2006 Nobel for his work in microfinancing — as the interim leader.