Yunus misquoted, to stay as interim chief: Aide
Muhammad Yunus will remain as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, an adviser in his cabinet said on Saturday, two days after a key ally said he had mulled resignation.
“Yunus didn’t say he will leave. He said that while we face many obstacles in carrying out the work and responsibilities assigned to us, we are overcoming them,” Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud told reporters after an unscheduled meeting of the advisory council.
“He is definitely staying,” Mahmud said.
He said none of the advisers were going anywhere as “the responsibility entrusted to us is a significant one; we cannot abandon this duty”.
The chief adviser’s decision to stay in office came two days after he told student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders that he was mulling resignation as he felt “the situation is such that he cannot work", citing difficulties in working amid the failure of political parties to find common ground for change.
Yunus reportedly expressed an identical desire to quit in a cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, where his colleagues persuaded him not to relinquish.
As many as 19 advisers, effectively ministers, joined the abruptly called closed-door meeting, which Yunus decided to convene following a scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area in Dhaka.
The chief adviser’s press wing later issued a “statement from the advisory council”, saying the two-hour long meeting included detailed discussions on “three primary responsibilities entrusted to the interim government — elections, reforms, and justice”.
The council said it believed that a broader unity was essential to maintain national stability, organise a free and fair elections, justice, and reform, and permanently prevent the return of authoritarianism in the country and the government would listen to the views of political parties and clarify its own position.
Analysts saw the chief adviser’s resignation threat as a test of public backing and political support.
Yunus is expected to meet leaders of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami later in the day, following his overnight call for talks amid the evolving political situation of recent days. Several senior BNP leaders, including Abdul Moyeen Khan and Salahuddin Ahmed said earlier that the party hoped Yunus would oversee an early general election and step down with dignity, rather than resign abruptly.
The development of Yunus’ resignation came amid reports of discord between the military and the interim government over the possible timeline for holding the parliamentary elections and a policy issue related to Bangladesh’s security affairs involving a proposed humanitarian corridor of aid channel to Myanmar’s rebel-held Rakhine state.
Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman along with the navy and air force chiefs met Yunus three days ago and reportedly reiterated their call for election by December this year to allow an elected government to take charge and conveyed their reservation about the corridor issue.
BNP, army push for december polls
BNP, seen as the front-runners in elections, are pushing heavily for polls to be held by December. “If Yunus is unable to announce a specific election date by December, we will reconsider our support for his administration,” senior BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed said in an interview on a private TV channel broadcast on Friday. Besides, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman along with the navy and air force chiefs met Yunus three days ago and reportedly reiterated their call for election by December.
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