Bangladesh’s Yunus hails slain student in appeal for unity

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus appealed for religious unity on Saturday as he embraced the weeping mother of a student shot dead by police, a flashpoint in mass protests that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

Nobel laureate Yunus, 84, returned from Europe this week to helm a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of ending disorder and enacting democratic reforms.

“Our responsibility is to build a new Bangladesh,” he told reporters.

Several reprisal attacks against the country’s Hindu minority since autocratic ex-premier Hasina’s toppling have caused alarm in neighbouring India as well as fear at home.

“Don’t differentiate by religion,” he said.

Yunus called for calm during a visit to the northern city of Rangpur by invoking the memory of Abu Sayeed, the first student slain during last month’s unrest.

“Abu Sayeed is now in every home. The way he stood, we have to do the same,” he added.

“There are no differences in Abu Sayeed’s Bangladesh.”

Sayeed, 25, was shot dead by police at close range on July 16 at the start of a police crackdown on student-led protests against Hasina’s government.

His mother sobbed as she clung to a visibly emotional Yunus, who had come to pay his respects alongside members of the “advisory” cabinet now administering the country.

Fellow cabinet member Nahid Islam, a 26-year-old sociology graduate who led the protests that culminated in Hasina’s ouster, wept by the leader’s side.

Allies purged

Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India on Monday as protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule.

Her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.

Cabinet ministers left blindsided by her sudden fall have gone to ground, while several top appointees have been forced out of office — including the national police chief and the central bank governor.

On Saturday, the chief justice of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court became the latest to announce his departure, with private broadcaster Jamuna TV reporting he had agreed “in principle” to resign.

Appointed last year, Obaidul Hassan oversaw a much-criticised war crimes tribunal that ordered the execution of Hasina’s opponents, and his brother was her longtime secretary.

His announcement came after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the court to demand he step down by the early afternoon.

“No one should do anything that pits the Supreme Court against the mass uprising of the students and the people,” Asif Nazrul, a student protest leader now serving in Yunus’ government, told reporters.

‘Safety and protection’

In the immediate aftermath of Hasina’s fall, some businesses and homes owned by Hindus were attacked, a group seen by some in Muslim-majority Bangladesh as having been her supporters.

Bangladeshi Hindus account for around eight per cent of the country’s population.

Hundreds have since arrived on India’s border, asking to cross.

Hasina’s flight has heightened rancour towards India, which played a decisive military role in securing Bangladesh’s independence, but also backed her to the hilt.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged “safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities”.

More than 450 people were killed in the unrest leading up to Hasina’s departure, including dozens of police officers killed during clampdowns on demonstrations.

The caretaker administration that Yunus helms has said that restoration of law and order is its “first priority”.

Complicating its efforts is a strike declared Tuesday by the police union, saying its members would not return to work until their safety was assured.

Bangladesh’s police force said more than half of the country’s police stations had reopened by Saturday.

The buildings are being guarded by soldiers from the army, an institution held in higher public regard than the police for opting not to forcibly quell the protests.

Two attempted jailbreaks were staged at prisons north of the capital Dhaka this week, with more than 200 inmates fleeing one facility.

Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.

He took office on Thursday as “chief advisor” to a caretaker administration, comprised of fellow civilians bar one retired brigadier-general, and has said he wants to hold elections “within a few months”.

Twelve killed in twin Bangladesh jailbreaks

Twin jailbreaks in Bangladesh killed at least 12 inmates and freed hundreds more in the chaotic days, officials told AFP on Saturday.

This week’s prison escapes, both north of the capital Dhaka, are the latest in a series of breakouts during weeks of nationwide unrest.

Six convicts were killed at Jamapur Prison on Thursday after prison guards were assaulted by escapees, warden Abu Fatah told AFP.

“They attacked us with iron rods and sharp weapons. They torched my office. Then tried to break out and take all 600 prisoners with them,” he said.

“We were forced to open fire. At least six inmates were killed including one who was stabbed to death.” Fatah said guards managed to quell the attack before anyone escaped.

On Tuesday another six prisoners were shot dead during a mass breakout at a high-security prison in Kashimpur, just 30 kilometres north of Dhaka, warden Lutfor Rahman told AFP.

Rahman said the inmates used iron tools and rebar rods to attack guards and broke through the jail’s main gate, forcing army soldiers and jail guards to open fire.

“At least 203 prisoners also managed to escape,” he said.

Kashimpur High Security Prison hosts some of Bangladesh’s most notorious convicts, including Islamist extremists and murderers.

Rahman said none of the high-profile inmates had managed to break out of their cells.

Numerous attempted and successful jailbreaks have taken place across Bangladesh since protests began last month.

More than 800 prisoners fled a jail in the central district of Narsingdi in July when a mob of thousands attacked the British colonial era institution and set the warden’s office on fire.

On Monday, the day of Hasina’s ouster, more than 500 inmates fled a jail in the northern district of Sherpur.

Police unions declared a strike on Tuesday and said officers would not resume duty until their safety was assured.

More than half of the country’s police stations have since reopened, according to the force.