Dhaka: The interim leader of Bangladesh, who took over after a massive uprising last year, threatened to resign if the parties do not give him his support, a political ally and sources in his office said Thursday.
The Southern Asia Nation of about 170 million people has been in a political agitation since a revolt led by students forced the then Prime Sheikh Hasina Minister to flee in August 2024. But this week he has seen an escalation in the political crisis with rival parties that protest in the streets of the capital of Dhaka with a series of competitive demands.
Muhammad Yunus, the winner of the 84 -year -old Nobel Peace Prize who addresses the caregiver’s government as his main advisor to the elections, told his cabinet that he wanted to resign if the political parties did not give him all his support, he said a source within his office.
“He wanted to present his resignation, but the members of his cabinet persuaded him,” said the source.
Nahid Islam, leader of the National Party of Citizens, composed of many of the students who headed the uprising against Hasina, met with Yunus on Thursday night, said another leader of the PCN, Arife Islam Adeb. “They talked about the current political situation,” said Adeb.
“The main advisor said he is reconsidering if he can continue with his duties in current circumstances.” But Islam Nahid, who had initially been part of Yunus’s cabinet before giving up a political party, “urged him to remain in office,” said Adeb.
Shafiqur Rahman, the head of Jamaat-E-Islami, the largest Islamist party in the country, has urged Yunus to call a meeting of all parties to address the crisis, said a party official. Yunus’s informed threat to retire occurs one day after thousands of supporters of the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) recovered in Dhaka, maintaining large -scale protests against the interim government for the first time.
Posted in Dawn, May 23, 2025
