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9 August 2024

What to Know About Muhammad Yunus and Bangladesh’s Uncertain Future

Anna Gordon and Chad de Guzman

Bangladesh was plunged into political turmoil after longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India on Monday under pressure from the military and a mass public uprising. Now, the country faces an uncertain future.

The 76-year-old Hasina, who is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first Prime Minister of the country, had become increasingly authoritarian in recent years. But it was the clashes between police and anti-government protesters—which have officially left at least hundreds dead, though diplomatic sources have told TIME the true toll could be over 1,000—that ultimately proved her undoing.

As Hasina’s resignation was announced by the military on Monday, protesters ransacked the Ganabhaban, the Prime Minister’s official residence in capital Dhaka. Mohammed Shahabuddin, who holds the largely ceremonial role of President of Bangladesh, announced the dissolution of parliament, which had been led by Hasina’s ruling party the Awami League for a fourth straight term after January elections that observers deemed neither free nor fair, and Shahabuddin promised fresh elections as soon as possible. By early Wednesday, Shahabuddin’s office announced that 84-year-old Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, a popular figure among the protesters and who had been prosecuted by Hasina’s government, was tapped to lead an interim government.

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