DHAKA: Bangladesh’s de-facto prime minister has threatened to step down if political parties cannot agree on reforms that citizens await with growing impatience, a top student leader has said, deepening uncertainty in the wake of deadly protests last year.
Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, took over as interim head of the South Asian nation of 173 million last August after a student-led uprising forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India.
Nahid Islam, the head of the newly-formed National Citizen Party (NCP), which wants national elections held only after the completion of reforms, said Yunus was finding it difficult to work without the backing of political parties.
“He was visibly upset,” Islam told reporters after meeting the leader on Thursday (May 22).
“He said if he cannot do the work he was asked to do – reform the system and prepare for fair elections – then he may have to leave. He feels trapped between demands from different political camps and growing public impatience.”
Yunus promised major reforms in various sectors after Hasina’s exit, but a lack of progress and growing political disagreement have put his administration in a tight spot.
“We told him clearly that people didn’t rise up just to switch governments, but to change the system,” said Islam, whose party emerged from last year’s student-led protests. “Elections without reform will only take us back to the same problems.”
He gave no further details.
Yunus’ press wing did not immediately respond to telephone calls and messages seeking comment.
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