Students call for Nobel Laureate Yunus to lead Bangladesh as parliament dissolved

Student leaders in Bangladesh on Tuesday demanded Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus lead a caretaker government, a day after the military took control as mass demonstrations forced longtime ruler Sheikh Hasina to flee the country.

Hasina, 76, had been in power since 2009 but was accused of rigging elections in January and then watched millions of people take to the streets over the past month demanding she quit.

Hundreds of people died as security forces sought to quell the unrest, but the protests grew and Hasina finally fled Bangladesh aboard a helicopter on Monday as the military turned against her.

Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced Monday afternoon on state television that Hasina had resigned and the military would form an interim government.

'In Dr. Yunus we trust'

"In Dr. Yunus, we trust," Asif Mahmud, a key leader of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group, wrote on Facebook.

Yunus has not commented on the call, but in an interview with India's The Print, he said Bangladesh had been "an occupied country" under Hasina.

"Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated," it quoted Yunus as saying.

However, Reuters quoted Yunus' spokesperson as saying that he agreed to the students' request to be an adviser for the interim government.

Bangladesh president dissolves parliament

Bangladesh's president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for the formation of an interim government.

A statement from President Mohammed Shahabuddin's office also said that Hasina's arch rival, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister, had been freed from house arrest.