In a significant political shift, Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday as the head of an interim government following the end of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, which was brought down by student-led protests.
At 84 years old, Yunus assumed the role of chief advisor, a position equivalent to that of a prime minister. During the swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in Dhaka, he pledged to “uphold, support, and protect the constitution” before an audience of political and civil society leaders, military officials, and diplomats.
The new caretaker administration, composed of a civilian team with the exception of one retired brigadier-general, includes more than a dozen members who have taken on the title of advisers rather than ministers.
The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has formed a 16-member council of advisers tasked with steering Bangladesh through its current crisis and overseeing the transition to a newly elected government.
Notable members of this advisory council include:
- Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain
- Women’s rights activist Farida Akhtar
- AFM Khalid Hossain, deputy chief of the right-wing party Hefazat-e-Islam
- Nurjahan Begum, trustee of Grameen Telecom
- Freedom fighter Sharmeen Murshid
- Supradip Chakma, chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board
- Prof Bidhan Ranjan Roy
- Former foreign secretary Touhid Hossain
Other members include Md Nazrul Islam, Adilur Rahman Khan, AF Hassan Ariff, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, and Farooq-e-Azam. Additionally, two prominent leaders of the Students Against Discrimination group, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, who played a key role in the protests against the Sheikh Hasina government, have also been appointed as advisers.
