PM Modimay meet Prof Yunus in New YorkNobellaureate Professor Muhammad Yunus ,
who was sworn in as the interim government head of Bangladesh mayhave an opportunity to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York during theUN General Assembly session on 22, 23 September. Mentionable is that Prof Yunus dialled PM Modi on 16 August and had a fruitful discussion totake forward bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries. PMModi emphasised on protection of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh,where Prof Yunus assured that his government is committed to ensure security toall minorities in his Muslim majority nation. He also invited PM Modi tovisit Bangladesh at his convenience and arranged to send a delegation of Indianjournalists to witness the ground situation there.With ahuge expectation from the people of Bangladesh, the interim government wasformed on 8 August in Dhaka, but thecaretaker government is yet to make any formal reform in the system even thoughit has achieved diplomatic success in different fronts along with a sustainedpublic trust. The widely acclaimed banker turned social-enterprise motivatorProf Yunus has however continued his mission to understand the groundsituation while discussing with various political parties along with otherimportant personalities to finalise his roadmap for a free, fair andparticipatory national elections in due course of time.Theoctogenarian preacher for three zeros (no poverty, no net carbon emission andno wealth concentration) Prof Yunus has already received encouraging messagesfrom various global leaders and institutions. Needless to mention that, nearlyhundred Nobel laureates from different parts of the world recently sent aletter of appreciation and good will to Prof Yunus. The signatoriesincluding former US President Barack Obama, human rights activist ShirinEbadi and a number of elected public personalities, business leaders, civil societyrepresentatives etc argued that Prof Yunus was rightly put in hisopposition by the agitating students of Bangladesh. Most of the developmentpartners of Bangladesh including different western countries were happy andexpressed their desire to support the south Asian nation with nearly 170million people in its development process.ProfYunus, who was in Paris during the first week of August, arrived in Dhaka toreceive a hero’s welcome. By then the country’s longest serving Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina was ousted and the Awami League chief was forced to leave thecountry following an unprecedented mass movement against her government withdictatorial attitude. The daughter Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, theBangladesh freedom movement hero, Hasina left Dhaka on 5 August to arrive inIndia. New Delhi has yet to make an official declaration about her status as anasylum seeker and the only version, stated by India’s foreign minister, revealsthat the fifth time Bangla premier was given shelter following a short noticerequest. No official announcement is available if Hasina was allowed to stay inIndia as long as she wants or if the iron lady was looking for a third countryfor long term shelter.Meanwhile,hundreds of police complaints were lodged against Hasina and the interimgovernment is looking for her return to face trial in the country. It’s assumedthat Prof Yunus will soon ask for her extradition from New Delhi and till thenhe advised Hasina to keep quiet as long as she is taking shelter in a differentcountry. Meanwhile, in a message to thenation, Prof Yunus remembered the sacrifice of hundreds of students andcivilians from all walks of life to end the 15-year dictatorship of fascistHasina, ‘who led a brutal genocide right up until her downfall’. “Our firsttask is to ensure justice and accountability for the killings we all witnessedin July and August. We have invited the UN Human Rights Office to conduct anindependent and impartial UN-led inquiry into the genocide. They have alreadystarted their work,” added Prof Yunus.
