DHAKA — Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus returned home to strife-torn Bangladesh on Thursday, to lead a new interim government after weeks of tumultuous student protests forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to neighboring India.
The South Asian nation’s only Nobel laureate and a harsh critic of Hasina, Yunus, 84, arrived in Dhaka following medical treatment in Paris, after protesters backed him for the role in a government tasked with holding elections for a new leader.
“The country has the possibility of becoming a very beautiful nation,” the economist told reporters at the airport, where he was greeted by senior military officers and student leaders.
The student protesters had saved the country and that freedom had to be protected, he said, adding: “Whatever path our students show us, we will move ahead with that.”
“We had ended those possibilities, now again we have to rise up. To the government…