Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus took the oath as the chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh along with 13 other advisers on Thursday, four days after long-time ruler Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India amid a student-led mass uprising.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath ceremony at Bangabhaban in Dhaka in the presence of political leaders, journalists, and members of civil society, among others.
The other nominees for the position of adviser would take the oath later, as they were outside Dhaka, said cabinet secretary Md Mahbub Hossain, who conducted the oath ceremony.
No authorities from the government announced the duration of the interim government formed in extraordinary circumstances following violent protests that led to the ouster of Hasina.听
The 16-member advisory panel includes Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, two key organisers of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, a platform of students that led the protests in July and August.
The other advisers who took oaths are former Bangladesh Bank governor Salahuddin Ahmed, Dhaka University law teacher Asif Nazrul, human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, former attorney general AF Hassan Ariff, former foreign secretay Md Touhid Hossain, environment lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan, non-profit Brotee chief Sharmeen Murshid, retired brigadier general M Sakhawat Hussain, former Hefazat-e-Islami leader AFM Khalid Hossain, human rights activist Farida Akhter, and one of the early associates of Yunus, Nurjahan Begum.
Cabinet secretary Mahbub Hossain said freedom fighter Faruk-E-Azam, former ambassador Supradip Chakma, and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder will take oaths later.
Following the oath ceremony, chief advisor Yunus told the media that youths can do the impossible as possible and are highly committed.
鈥業f we remain united, stay away from vandalism, and ensure a free environment for all, the victory must come,鈥� he said.
Asif Mahmud told reporters that they took responsibility of the government without any time limit left to reform in the country. We will try our best to do it,鈥� Asif said.
Nahid said that the interim government would work to restore the people鈥檚 voting rights.
鈥楶eople were deprived of exercising their voting rights in the past several elections. We will work to fix the institutions to restore people鈥檚 voting rights. Then an election will be held,鈥� he said.
Representatives from most political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Communist Party of Bangladesh, and Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, were among those present in the oath-taking ceremony.
No representatives from the Awami League, however, were seen in the ceremony attended by some 400 guests.听
Yunus, who was named chief adviser of the interim government by President Mohammed Shahabuddin late on Tuesday, returned to the country from Paris earlier in the day.
Chief three defence services and student leaders were among those who received him at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
While addressing a press briefing at the airport, where he landed minutes after 2:00pm, Yunus said that his first work would be restoring law and order in the country and bringing back faith in people鈥檚 minds.
He said that a new victory had been earned in Bangladesh through revolution.
鈥榊oung people have made it possible. We express our gratitude to them,鈥� he said in tears.
He remembered the sacrifice of Abu Sayeed, who was killed in Rangpur during the recent student movement.
鈥楢narchy and disorder are the biggest enemies,鈥� he said.
About the current situation in the country, he said, 鈥楶lease keep faith in me. No one will be attacked.鈥�
Yunus was named interim leader following talks among military officials, civic leaders, and student activists.
Of the new government, advisor Salahuddin is a Bangladeshi economist, civil servant, and former governor of the Bangladesh Bank. He is a professor at BRAC University.
Asif Nazrul is a Bangladeshi writer, novelist, columnist, political commentator, and professor of law at the University of Dhaka.
Adilur Rahman Khan is a human rights activist and the founder of Odhikar, a human rights organisation. He is a lawyer and former deputy attorney general for Bangladesh.
AF Hassan Ariff is a former attorney general of Bangladesh and advisor to the army-backed caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed during 2007鈥�08.
Touhid is a former foreign secretary of Bangladesh. He served as the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to South Africa.
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Rizwana is a Bangladeshi attorney and environmentalist. She has particularly focused on regulations for the ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh and was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2009.
Sharmeen Murshid is the Chief Executive Officer of the election observation group Brotee.
Faruk-e-Azam is a freedom fighter, who was adorned with the fourth highest gallantry award, Bir Protik, for his contribution to the War of Independence in 1971. He founded FARAS Property Care, a Chattogram-based social business providing property management services.
Sakhawat is a former Election Commissioner and retired brigadier general in the Bangladesh Army.
Supradip is the former chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board and Bangladesh鈥檚 former ambassador to Vietnam.
Bidhan Ranjan is a former director and professor at the National Institute of Mental Health. He also served as a professor of psychiatry at Mymensingh Medical College.
AFM Khalid Hossain is an Islamic scholar and a former Nayeb-e-Ameer of Hefazat-e-Islam.
Farida is the founding executive director of Policy Research for Development Alternatives - UBINIG, a policy and action research organisation in Bangladesh.
Nurjahan Begum was one of the early associates of Professor Yunus when the latter started the Grameen Bank Project in 1976 in the village of Jobra in Chittagong district.
Md Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, coordinators of the Student Movement, are set to be the youngest members ever to be sworn in as advisors to an interim government in Bangladesh.
Nahid Islam, hailing from Dhaka city, is a master鈥檚 student in the sociology department of Dhaka University.
Hailing from Muradnagar, Cumilla, Asif Mahmud is also a master鈥檚 student of linguistics from Dhaka University.
They are all now holding the portfolio of full ministers.
These two students acted as key leaders of the anti-quota movement that culminated in the collapse of the Hasina government.听
Over 500 people were killed in the student movement that started on July 1 and ended on August 5 with the fall of Hasina.
