Microfinance pioneer is willing to lead an interim government following which protests ousted Hasina Wajid
\n DHAKA
\nBangladesh Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday he is ready to head a caretaker government, a day after the military took control as mass protests forced longtime ruler Sheikh Hasina to flee.
\nMicrofinance pioneer Yunus, 84, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty \u2014 earning the enmity of ousted Hasina and the wide respect of millions of Bangladeshis.
\n\u201cIf action is needed in Bangladesh, for my country and for the courage of my people, then I will take it,\u201d he told AFP in a statement, also calling for \u201cfree elections\u201d, after student leaders called for him to lead an interim government.
\nHasina, 76, had been in power since 2009 but was accused of rigging elections in January and then watched millions of people take to the streets over the past month demanding she quit.
\nHundreds of people were killed as security forces sought to quell the unrest but the protests grew and Hasina finally fled aboard a helicopter on Monday after the military turned against her.
\nArmy chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced Monday the military would form an interim government, saying it was \u201ctime to stop the violence\u201d.
\nThe president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, a key demand of the student leaders and the major opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which has demanded elections within three months.
\n\u201cIn Dr. Yunus, we trust,\u201d Asif Mahmud, a key leader of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group, wrote on Facebook.
\nThe military on Tuesday reshuffled several top generals, demoting some seen as close to Hasina, and sacking Ziaul Ahsan, a commander of the feared and US-sanctioned Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.
\nEx-prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, 78, was also released from years of house arrest, a presidential statement and her party said.
\nStreets in the capital were largely peaceful on Tuesday \u2014 with traffic resuming, shops opening and international flights resuming at Dhaka\u2019s airport \u2014 but government offices were mainly closed a day after chaotic violence in which at least 122 people were killed.
\nMillions of Bangladeshis flooded the streets of Dhaka to celebrate after Waker\u2019s announcement on Monday \u2014 and jubilant crowds also stormed and looted Hasina\u2019s official residence.
\n\u201cWe have been freed from a dictatorship\u201d, said Sazid Ahnaf, 21, comparing the events to the independence war that split the nation from Pakistan more than five decades ago.
\nPolice said mobs had launched revenge attacks on Hasina\u2019s allies and their own officers, as well as broke into a prison, releasing more than 500 inmates.
\nMonday was the deadliest day since protests began in early July, with a further 10 people killed on Tuesday, taking the total toll overall to at least 432, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and doctors at hospitals.
\nProtesters broke into parliament and torched TV stations. Others smashed statues of Hasina\u2019s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh\u2019s independence hero.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Microfinance pioneer is willing to lead an interim government following which protests ousted Hasina Wajid DHAKA Bangladesh Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday he is ready to head a caretaker government, a day after the military took control as mass protests forced longtime ruler Sheikh Hasina to flee. Microfinance pioneer Yunus, 84, is credited with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-423216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n