Amid ongoing violence and political turmoil in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer, is set to finalise new interim government members he will head after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation that ended her 15-year second stint in power.
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Yunus, who student leaders recommended to lead the interim govt, is expected to return to Bangladesh on Thursday afternoon to embark on a new journey.
In a statement ahead of his return to Bangladesh, Yunus congratulated the brave students who made “Second Victory Day” possible. “Let us make the best use of our new victory. Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes.”
However, the new administration will have several issues to deal with.
Holding elections
The Dhaka Tribune reported that the constitution in its current form does not have provisions for such an interim government; it only mentions elected governments. The report said that during the Awami League’s 2009-14 term, the 15th amendment to the constitution in 2011 abolished the caretaker government provision.
Yunus has said he wants to hold elections ‘within a few months’.
However, experts believe that the election body will need to be overhauled. Besides that, the question remains: who will contest, and how long will a caretaker government be in place?
Speaking to TRT World, political analyst Shoaib Ahamed said that Bangladesh needs to hold a free and fair election. “Forming a cabinet with competent people could happen only in months. Reforms need to take place in the judiciary and police; the election commission needs to be dissolved and built.
International Crisis Group analyst Thomas Kean told AFP that the interim government needs to embark on the long task of rebuilding democracy in Bangladesh, which has been badly eroded in recent years.
Will the Army have control?
The interim government is set to be civilian-led. Even protesting students have said that they don’t want a military government. However, the Army could have a role in internal set-up.
Ahmed said that a civilian would lead the government, and a military government could not be formed as nobody would agree to military rule.
“The military leadership will have a major role in overseeing this interim setup, even if it’s not formally heading it,” AFP quoted Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, as saying.
Law and order
Maintaining law and order and bringing back peace to a country where 400-plus people have died in protests raging for the last few months will be a tough task at hand. According to Bloomberg, though Yunus has spent much of his life in the public eye, politics is largely unexplored. In 2007, the Bangladeshi government splintered, and the military seized power. Yunus, who’d never run for office, considered forming a new party to fill the vacuum but ultimately scrapped the idea within a few weeks.
“The first order of business for any interim government should be to ensure protection of people’s right to life, right to free speech and peaceful assembly, and to find ways of de-escalating any potential for further violence,” AFP quoted Smriti Singh of Amnesty International.
Md Abdullahhel Baki, the new president of the Bangladesh Police Association, said that police are friends of the people. However, under Hasina’s government, the police force was turned into a club-wielding force due to political vendetta.
Reviving economy
Shoaib Ahamed said that reviving the business and the banking sector would be the main challenges and hoped that Yunus’s experience over the four decades would be light.
The arsoning during protests has affected several businesses, especially the garment industry. The violence has also affected trade between countries. An editorial in Bangladesh’s Daily Star said that the country’s economy stands at a critical juncture, adding that high inflation, the high burden of default loans, poor governance in the banking sector (and in general), falling foreign exchange reserves, and corruption are the main challenges.
