Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus has been sworn in as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, just three days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to neighboring India.
Yunus, 84, took the oath during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Dhaka on Thursday night, attended by political leaders, civil society figures, generals, and diplomats.
“I will uphold, support, and protect the constitution,” Yunus declared as President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath, pledging to perform his duties “sincerely.”
More than a dozen members of his cabinet, whose titles are advisers rather than ministers, were also sworn in. The caretaker government, now under Yunus’s leadership, aims to restore peace and prepare the nation for new elections.
Among those taking the oath were Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, top leaders of the Students Against Discrimination group, which played a key role in the protests that led to Hasina’s ousting.
Other notable appointees include Touhid Hossain, a former foreign secretary, Hassan Ariff, a former attorney general, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, an award-winning environmental lawyer, and Asif Nazrul, a prominent law professor and writer.
Adilur Rahman Khan, a prominent human rights activist who had been sentenced to two years in jail by Hasina’s government, also took the oath as an adviser.
No representatives of Hasina’s Awami League party were present at the ceremony.
Hasina resigned on Monday after widespread protests against a quota system for government jobs, which critics claimed unfairly favored individuals connected to her party.
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