- The army chief plans to meet with protest coordinators today.
- Protesters are calling for a new government with Yunus as their chief adviser.
- Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country.
Bangladesh's army chief will meet student protest leaders on Tuesday as the country awaits the formation of a new government a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following a violent uprising against her rule.
Student leaders, who spearheaded an anti-quota movement that turned into a call for Hasina to resign, said early on Tuesday they want a new interim government with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus as its chief adviser.
“We will not accept any government other than the one we recommend,” Nahid Islam, one of the key organizers of the student movement, said in a Facebook video alongside three other organizers. “We will not accept any government supported or led by the military.”
“We have also had discussions with Muhammad Yunus and he has agreed to take up this responsibility at our invitation,” Islam added.
Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman plans to meet protest organisers at 12 p.m. local time (0600 GMT) on Tuesday, the military said in a statement, a day after Zaman announced Hasina's resignation in a televised address and said an interim government would be formed.
Yunus, 84, and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their work to lift millions out of poverty by providing small loans of less than $100 to Bangladesh's rural poor, but in June a court charged him with embezzlement, charges he has denied.
Yunus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hasina, 76, landed at a military airfield, Hindon, near Delhi, on Monday after leaving Dhaka, two Indian government officials told Reuters, adding that India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, met her there. They gave no further details about her stay or plans.
