A 13-member delegation from the Students Against Discrimination Movement sat on a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin and the three heads of the army, navy and air force at the Bangabhaban on Monday evening to chalk out the framework of the interim government following the ouster of the Awami League-led government.
According to Mohammad Nahid Islam, one of the key coordinators of the movement that spearheaded the anti-government protests, Professor Asif Nazrul from the Law Department and Professor Tanzeemuddin from the International Relations Department of Dhaka University were also at the meeting.
Until the filing of this report at 10pm, the meeting was still underway.
Early Monday, the student leaders announced that they want Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the chief adviser of the caretaker government, a day after the military took control as mass demonstrations forced long-time ruler Sheikh Hasina to flee the country.
Nahid, flanked by two other coordinators, announced in a late-night video message that Yunus has also agreed to lead the interim government.
“We call everyone to stand on the streets peacefully. Our initial victory has been achieved. Now students have to work on nation-building. The students must work to bring back peace and the law and order environment in the state as soon as possible. The full list of proposed interim government members will be disclosed on Tuesday morning,” he said.
Yunus on Tuesday said he was ready to head the caretaker government. "If action is needed in Bangladesh, for my country and for the courage of my people, then I will take it," he told AFP in a statement, also calling for "free elections".
Earlier, the microfinance pioneer also told the media, “If the students can sacrifice so much, if the people of the country can sacrifice so much, then I also have some responsibility. I have informed the students that I will take the responsibility.”
“In Dr. Yunus, we trust," Asif Mahmud, a key leader of the movement, wrote on Facebook.
Earlier in the day, President Shahabuddin dissolved the National Parliament following a high-stakes meeting with key stakeholders, including the chiefs of the three forces, leaders of various political parties, civil society representatives and the student leaders.
Significant political developments accompanied this decision, with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and many other political prisoners being released.
Moreover, the process of releasing the people detained during the movement demanding reformation of the quota system in government jobs from July 1 to August 5 has started and many of them have already been released, said a press release signed by Mohammed Shiplu Jaman, deputy press secretary of the press wing of the President’s Office.
Hundreds of people were killed as security forces sought to quell the unrest, but the protests grew, and Hasina finally fled aboard a helicopter on Monday after the military turned against her.
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.
Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced on Monday that the military would form an interim government, saying it was "time to stop the violence".
The military on Tuesday also reshuffled several top generals, demoting some seen as close to Hasina, and sacking Ziaul Ahsan, a commander of the feared and US-sanctioned Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.
Streets in the capital were largely peaceful on Tuesday -- with traffic resuming, shops opening and international flights resuming at Dhaka's airport -- but government offices were mainly closed a day after chaotic violence in which at least 122 people were killed.
Millions of Bangladeshis flooded the streets of Dhaka to celebrate after the army chief’s announcement on Monday. Jubilant crowds also stormed and looted Hasina's official residence.
"We have been freed from a dictatorship,” said Sazid Ahnaf, 21, comparing the events to the independence war that split the nation from Pakistan more than five decades ago.
There were also scenes of chaos and anger, with police saying mobs had launched revenge attacks on Hasina's allies and their own officers, as well as broke into a prison in Sherpur, releasing more than 500 inmates.
Monday was the deadliest day since protests began in early July, with a further 10 people found killed on Tuesday, taking the total toll overall to at least 432, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and doctors at hospitals.
Protesters broke into parliament and torched TV stations. Others smashed statues of Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's independence hero.
A museum dedicated to the former leader was also set on fire in destruction barely thinkable just hours before when Hasina still had the loyalty of the security forces.
Some businesses and homes owned by Hindus -- a group seen by some in the Muslim-majority nation as close to Hasina -- were also attacked, witnesses said.
Bangladeshi rights groups, as well as US and European Union diplomats, on Tuesday said they were "very concerned" about reports of attacks on religious, ethnic and other minority groups.
Key regional allies of Bangladesh, neighbouring India and China, both called for calm on Tuesday.
China hoped that "social stability can be restored in Bangladesh" soon, the foreign ministry in Beijing said on Tuesday, while Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar said he was "deeply concerned till law and order is visibly restored".
Meanwhile, the United States government on Tuesday said that it had ordered non-emergency personnel to leave Bangladesh as a precaution after mass protests ousted Hasina.
The State Department said that all non-emergency diplomats and other personnel as well as their family members had been ordered to leave as of Monday, although the US embassy in Dhaka remains open at limited capacity, reports AFP.
The US had last month warned citizens not to travel to Bangladesh, citing the risk of civil unrest, crime and terrorism.
Bangladesh Police Association said their members had declared a strike "until the security of every member of the police is secured", offering their "apology" for police actions against the protesters.
The unrest began last month with protests against civil service job quotas and escalated into wider calls for Hasina to stand down.
Her government was accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
