New York —
After a series of student-led protests resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down and fled the country on August 5.
Days later, Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate who pioneered the global microcredit movement, was sworn in as the nation’s interim leader. He spoke with Voice of America Bangla Service reporter Anis Ahmed on Friday in New York, where he explained his decision to grant temporary magistracy powers to the army to restore law and order after the police lost public trust. He also stressed the critical role of youth leadership in shaping the country's future.
Yunus, who took office amid widespread unrest, highlighted key priorities such as strengthening relations with neighboring countries, holding elections, reforming the constitution and addressing the Rohingya refugee crisis. He confirmed that reforms and elections remained essential before power could be handed over to elected representatives.
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity:
First, we would like to know that after nearly one and a half months of assuming this responsibility on August 8, you have now delegated magistracy power to army officers. Why do you feel it was necessary?
To bring law and order to the country. We were trying to work it out through the police, which is normal. But the police have lost their moral courage because when they face people, they hear bitter words. Just a few days ago they killed some students, so they are distancing themselves — they don’t want to be out front. So, as they lost morale, we lost the strength of law and order. But as we’ve said before, not everyone in the police is responsible for wrongdoing. We will identify those who have done wrong. They will be brought to justice. But this is a long process; it’s not happening all of a sudden. And in the meantime, law and order is being violated — different types of violations are happening. We thought that if we allowed this to continue, then conditions would deteriorate, so the issue of giving powers to our army came up. We asked the army, and they agreed. They said, “We're here, but no one is heeding us because we do not have any power. If we had some power, the people would be cautious.” We then gave them the magistracy power but for a limited period, for two months. That’s how it happened.
So, you’re hopeful that the police service will return in two months?
Yes, I hope so. They’re not able to use their power; the army has come in and that’s not very pleasing for them that their duties are being performed by someone else.
We know students took the role of leadership amid the unrest, and that there are student representatives in your government as well. But is it also true that we are seeing students trying to establish their authority in different sectors and institutions of the country? Are these students running the country? What role are they playing?
Yes, they should. The youth should assume authority. So far, the old people have made mistakes, so let there be an effort for youth to come forward and take responsibility. They might also make mistakes and then correct those, but their leadership ushered in big changes. So, I don’t find any reasons to doubt their capacity for leadership.
So, can we say that the students are running your administration?
No, I didn’t say they are running the administration, I said they should. Let the youth take it. I have always said, even before I took this responsibility, that it should be in the hands of the youth because they will build their future. If we try to write the future for them, that would not be right. So, I’ll say again that not only in Bangladesh but in the entire world, youth should be given this responsibility.
We haven’t heard anything from you regarding the duration of this interim government, but General Waqar-Uz-Zaman recently said an election would occur within the next 18 months. Are we safe to assume the interim government would dissolve at that time?
Well, if you want to presume, you may, but that’s not the decision of the government. The government has not given any opinion so far. The government needs to say when they would take a decision about their duration.
The Advisory Committee to the interim government has yet to make any decisions?
We have discussed but no decisions have been taken yet.
What are the plans of your government to improve relations with India?