Dhaka, Bangladesh – Maliha Namlah says she had been holding her breath since Monday when student-led protests in Bangladesh pressured longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the nation after weeks of lethal unrest during which greater than 300 individuals have been killed.
Namlah, 19, was one of many coordinators of the scholar motion at Jahangirnagar College on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka. As quickly as Hasina’s authorities fell, her solely fear was whether or not it might get replaced with one other navy rule in a rustic that has seen a number of coups since its independence from Pakistan in 1971.
However the present military chief, Basic Waker-uz-Zaman, has been hailed for taking cost of a rustic in turmoil and asserting the formation of an interim authorities as quickly as Hasina fled.
“We didn’t struggle and shed blood for a navy authorities. We wished a civilian authorities that may carry real reforms,” Namlah informed Al Jazeera on Friday.
“And we’re relieved to see that that occurred shortly.”
Three days after Hasina stop, Muhammad Yunus, the South Asian nation’s solely Nobel laureate, was sworn in on Thursday night time because the “chief adviser” of a caretaker authorities tasked to carry peace and democracy, each of which Hasina’s critics mentioned have been undermined throughout her 15 years of “autocratic” rule.
The chief adviser of the caretaker authorities holds the rank of the prime minister whereas members of the advisory council are granted the standing of ministers.
As the brand new administration takes over in Dhaka, many are questioning whether or not will probably be in a position to take the nation of 170 million individuals out of what one of many members of the brand new authorities known as a “darkish period”.
“The military chief had promised an interim authorities, however till it was formally established, uncertainty remained attributable to widespread hypothesis,” Saifullah Sajib, an worker at a journey company in Dhaka, informed Al Jazeera as he watched a dwell telecast of Yunus and his 16-member cupboard take their oaths on the presidential palace.
Why was Yunus picked?
The protests in Bangladesh that started final month have been led primarily by tens of 1000’s of college college students against a quota system for presidency jobs that they alleged favoured these near Hasina’s Awami League occasion.
The primarily peaceable demonstrators have been attacked by each the safety forces in addition to supporters of Hasina’s occasion, leading to practically 300 deaths and reworking the protests into a bigger name for Hasina to stop.
Hours after she resigned and fled to neighbouring India in a navy plane, the College students In opposition to Discrimination, an umbrella group of scholar actions that led the protests, proposed 84-year-old Yunus as the top of an interim authorities.
Yunus, an economist and banker, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts to carry hundreds of thousands of individuals out of poverty via microloans. He’s additionally a longtime critic of Hasina and hailed the success of the student-led protests as a “second independence day” for Bangladesh.
“I really feel so relieved to see Dr Yunus sworn in as the top of the interim authorities,” Abdullah Al Mamun, a businessman within the clothes business, informed Al Jazeera. “I hope that somebody along with his credentials will have the ability to information the nation via this disaster.”
‘Freedom to each house’
After his swearing-in on Thursday, Yunus informed reporters as he was flanked by scholar leaders: “Bangladesh is a household. We have now to unite it. It has immense risk.”
He mentioned his authorities’s “foremost promise is to make sure that everybody can benefit from the contemporary air of freedom”.
“We should be sure that the advantages of this freedom lengthen to each citizen. In any other case, it might be meaningless. Subsequently, we decide to bringing freedom to each house,” he mentioned, including that those that dedicated wrongdoing throughout Hasina’s tenure “will likely be held accountable”.
Analysts mentioned one in all Yunus’s primary challenges will likely be to make sure legislation and order after days of chaos that noticed assaults on the homes of Awami League politicians, sporadic assaults on temples and houses of minority Hindus who have been thought-about near the ousted Hasina, and a basic absence of policing, manifested by college students this week managing site visitors on the busy streets of Dhaka.
Acknowledging the dysfunction, Asif Nazrul, professor of legislation at Dhaka College and member of Yunus’s interim authorities tasked with working the Ministry of Regulation and Justice, mentioned it’s grappling with a number of challenges as a result of unprecedented scenario within the nation.
“Below [Hasina’s] autocratic rule, it was a darkish period, and the individuals’s profound anger in opposition to the regime led to this eruption. Nevertheless, we are able to not assist such outbursts as they’ve exceeded acceptable limits,” he mentioned.
Who else is within the authorities?
The interim authorities is a mixture of each expertise and youth and contains rights activists, professors, attorneys, former authorities officers and different distinguished members of Bangladesh’s civil society.
However it’s the shock inclusion of two 26-year-old scholar leaders who spearheaded the latest motion in opposition to Hasina that’s more likely to be a speaking level within the coming days.
Nahid Islam, a scholar of sociology at Dhaka College, has been given the telecommunications portfolio whereas Asif Mahmud, a scholar of linguistics on the identical college, will take care of sports activities.
“If Bangladesh is led by its youth, the nation will keep true to its objectives,” Islam mentioned on Thursday.
Mahmud mentioned he was prepared for the challenges forward. “The state establishments have been devastated beneath [Hasina’s] fascist regime. Our purpose is to eradicate fascism by reforming these establishments,” he mentioned.
Former military officer M Sakhawat Hossain has been given the Ministry of Residence Affairs. He was near Hasina’s Awami League however supported the scholar protests in opposition to her authorities.
The Ministry of Finance has been given to Saleh Uddin Ahmed, who ruled the central financial institution throughout the 2001-2006 rule of the opposition Bangladeshi Nationalist Get together (BNP). Former diplomat and columnist Touhid Hossain will take care of international affairs.
Different notable figures within the new authorities are local weather change minister Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award – also known as Asia’s Nobel Prize – for her environmental work; rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who will deal with industries; electoral reforms activist Sharmeen Murshid, charged with the Ministry of Social Welfare; and ladies’s rights activist and advocate for biodiversity-based ecological agriculture Farida Akhter, who will run the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
The opposite members of the cupboard are former Legal professional Basic Hasan Ariff (native authorities affairs), Yunus’s longtime affiliate Nurjahan Begum (well being) and Muslim chief and tutorial Khalid Hossain (non secular issues).
The portfolios of the remaining three members – psychiatrist Bidhan Ranjan Roy from the minority Hindu group, former diplomat Supradip Chakma from the Indigenous Chakma group, primarily based within the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and independence fighter Faruk-e-Azam – haven’t been declared.
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program and senior affiliate for South Asia on the Woodrow Wilson Worldwide Middle in the USA, informed Al Jazeera that “on paper”, the interim authorities with its “big range of leaders from all walks of life seems remarkably various”.
“However how every thing suits collectively and whether or not a consensus is feasible is unclear. That is the place Yunus’s management will likely be important,” he mentioned.
Challenges forward
One of many greatest allegations in opposition to Hasina’s lengthy rule was her abuse of the safety equipment, primarily the police and a paramilitary power, which she used in opposition to political adversaries and can also be accused of utilizing to govern elections to assist her dangle on to energy.
Most just lately, the police have been employed in opposition to the antigovernment protesters in clashes that killed dozens of individuals as law enforcement officials fired dwell ammunition on demonstrators, intensifying the individuals’s anger in opposition to them.
Since Hasina’s fall, an absence of legislation enforcement officers on the streets have seen individuals arrange nighttime patrols to guard their neighbourhoods and the property of weak minorities, primarily Hindus.
After taking his oath, Yunus informed reporters these “instigating anarchy” will face the “full power of legislation enforcement” and made assurances that “each the triumphant college students and the general public will work collectively to make sure their failure”.
Khan, who now runs the Ministry of Industries, mentioned probably the most advanced activity earlier than the brand new administration will likely be to “dismantle the remnants of Hasina’s autocratic rule”.
“This can contain making new appointments throughout practically all positions in varied departments and divisions, together with legislation enforcement, the judiciary and totally different ministries,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the brand new authorities will examine all cases of human rights violations that occurred throughout Hasina’s tenure. “Upholding human rights will likely be a main focus of the interim authorities,” he mentioned.
Ali Riaz, distinguished professor of politics and authorities at Illinois State College within the US, informed Al Jazeera the interim authorities “possesses each strengths and weaknesses, as is typical with any group”, and mentioned he hoped extra individuals will likely be introduced into the federal government because it begins its work and assesses its wants.
He mentioned having youthful people, particularly college students, within the cupboard was a constructive growth. “They need to have the ability to mirror the views of the youthful technology and will provide progressive approaches and problem conventional strategies of governance,” he mentioned.
Riaz recognized three fast challenges earlier than the interim authorities. The primary is to ascertain a transparent course for the long run. Individuals have differing expectations, and a few could demand fast elections whereas others could name for structural reforms, he mentioned.
The second problem, he mentioned, is the economic system. He mentioned the federal government ought to implement “measures that profit most of the people” and display that “this authorities is distinct from its predecessors”.
And the third problem, Riaz mentioned, is to reassess Bangladesh’s relationships with regional and world powers. “Over the previous 15 years, these relationships, particularly with India, had been formed in ways in which could have been detrimental to the nation’s nationwide pursuits,” he mentioned.
Many in Bangladesh concern Hasina’s shut ties with New Delhi could power the brand new administration to take an anti-India stance, which analysts mentioned might be detrimental to enhancing the economic system.
Will elections be held?
Journalist and commentator Shayan S Khan informed Al Jazeera the first mandate of the interim authorities will “clearly be to conduct free and honest elections”. He mentioned conducting polls ought to be a comparatively easy activity for a nonpartisan interim authorities with no vested pursuits.
“Nevertheless, the circumstances of the Awami League’s departure may require extra time for it to regroup and put together for the election, which might pose a problem for the interim authorities. With out the Awami League, the election might lack a sure degree of credibility,” he added.
Kugelman, however, anticipated an extended haul for the interim authorities and even the emergence of a brand new occasion, “maybe led by Yunus and the protest leaders”.
The principle opposition BNP needs fast elections, which Kugelman mentioned might be a spoiler within the coming days. “The important thing query is how the BNP, by advantage of its dimension and clout as the most important beneficiary of Hasina’s ouster, adjusts to a brand new actuality that gained’t essentially defer to the BNP’s energy,” he mentioned.
BNP politician Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury mentioned that whereas the interim authorities faces the “robust activity of constructing the nation from the ruins of the Awami League’s large corruption, systematic destruction of the judiciary and forms”, it also needs to take into consideration elections.
“I believe the individuals would undoubtedly choose to train their democratic rights of voting, which within the Awami period was not potential,” Chowdhury informed Al Jazeera. “So I’d urge the federal government to offer individuals the scope of exercising their democratic rights.”
However there may be additionally an absence of readability amongst specialists over whether or not an interim authorities should maintain elections inside 90 days of taking cost.
Supreme Court docket lawyer Shahdeen Malik informed Al Jazeera an “extraordinary authorities” has been fashioned in Bangladesh beneath “extraordinary circumstances”.
“It’s known as an interim authorities, or some even name it a caretaker authorities with Dr Yunus as its chief adviser, however the truth is there is no such thing as a provision in our structure for the formation of such a authorities after the fifteenth Modification [to the constitution], which eliminated the availability for such a authorities,” he mentioned.
In June 2011, throughout her first of 4 consecutive phrases, Hasina’s authorities launched the fifteenth Modification to stop any “unelected authorities” from assuming energy. The transfer adopted a Supreme Court docket ruling that had declared a caretaker authorities fashioned by the navy from 2006 to 2008 was unlawful as a result of it remained in workplace for greater than two years with out calling elections throughout the mandated 90 days.
Malik mentioned that since there is no such thing as a longer a constitutional provision, the interim authorities beneath Yunus isn’t obliged to carry elections inside 90 days. He added, nonetheless, that the functioning of the brand new authorities might be legalised by making one other modification to the structure.
“Basic Ziaur Rahman did that via the Fifth Modification, and Basic Hussain Mohammad Ershad did that via the Seventh Modification. So this authorities will doubtless do the identical,” Malik concluded.
Badiul Alam Majumder of Residents for Good Governance, a civil society group campaigning for political reforms, informed Al Jazeera the Awami League’s unilateral passage of the fifteenth Modification in a “majoritarian vogue successfully weaponised” the structure and undermined the political institution.
He demanded the abolition of the caretaker authorities system, which he mentioned had led to 3 “failed” elections within the nation, in 2014, 2018 and 2024. He additionally known as for amendments as a substitute to incorporate provisions that guarantee free and honest elections in a “deeply divided and fractured nation”.
