On August 8, Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and a pioneer in the issuance of micro-finance credit loans, was sworn in as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister after protests forced the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country for 20 of the last 30 years.
Yunus was the choice of student protest leaders who coordinated demonstrations that forced Hasina from power.
The demonstrations started over an unfair job allotment system and escalated after Hasina disparaged the protesters and deployed repressive police against them.
Many in Bangladesh had been weary over rising inflation and unemployment and tired of Hasina’s growing autocratic methods.
The violent side of the protests was evident in the throwing of Molotov cocktails at police, an attack on the only metro rail system in the capital Dhaka, and torching of the home of Shekikh Majibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader and Ms. Hasina’s father.[1]
The Pakistani-backed Jamaat-e-Islami Party, which was allied with the opposition Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP), played a significant role in the protests and now has a presence in the new interim government.[2]
Hellbound and Down 