Who’s who in Bangladesh’s interim government

DHAKA, AUG 9 (AFP/APP): Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is leading an interim government of 17 people, many strident opponents of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina.

   Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work, has taken a super-portfolio encompassing transport, land, defence, aviation and energy.

   His cabinet, who began work on Friday, has been given the official title of advisers, not ministers.

  Here are the men and women tasked with steering democratic reforms after the end of Hasina’s autocratic 15-year tenure.

  – The students –

   Sociology graduate Nahid Islam, 26, put in charge of the telecoms ministry, is credited with leading the student movement whose July protests against civil service job quotas culminated in Hasina’s hurried resignation.

        Last month he was forcibly discharged from a hospital in Dhaka and abducted by plainclothes police.

    They attempted to pressure him into calling off the protests before releasing him days later.

   Asif Mahmud, 25, is a linguistics graduate who helped Islam coordinate the Students Against Discrimination group’s campaign and will take charge of the sports ministry.

– The central banker –

In charge of the finance ministry will be Saleh Uddin Ahmed, a widely respected central bank governor during the 2001-06 government led by Hasina’s key rivals, the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP).

   Now in his early 70s, Ahmed was known for his fiscal prudence and aggressive use of monetary tools to combat inflation.

      After retirement he was a vocal critic of Hasina’s economic policy and her relationship with powerful oligarchs with commanding positions in Bangladesh’s economy.

                  – The rights activists –

                  At the industry ministry, Adilur Rahman Khan, 64, is a top Bangladeshi rights activist and was deputy attorney-general during the last BNP government.

                  The group he founded in the 1990s — Odhikar, meaning “Rights” — documented thousands of extrajudicial killings under Hasina’s rule before her government banned it last year.

                  Khan was convicted of spreading false information in a trial condemned by observers as politically motivated.

                  Election reform activist Sharmeen Murshid, who has criticised the conduct of national polls that entrenched Hasina’s power, will lead the social affairs ministry.

                  Farida Akhter, founder of the Women’s Resource Centre campaign group, takes the fisheries and livestock portfolio.

                  – The writers –

                  Foreign affairs will be handled by Touhid Hossain, in his late 70s, who had a long career as a diplomat before becoming a columnist for the largest Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo.

                  Nazrul Islam, 61, a law professor at Dhaka University, and one of the most strident opponents of Hasina among academic circles, takes charge of the justice ministry.

                  – The environmental campaigner –

                  In charge of climate change affairs will be Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a top environmental lawyer who battled industrial interests polluting the country’s riverways and illegally dumping toxic waste.

                  Her husband was abducted in 2014 by the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) police force, accused of numerous rights abuses.

                  He was freed a few days later after a huge public outcry.

                  – The general –

                  Sakhawat Hossain, a former former army brigadier general who was once close to Hasina’s Awami League, will be in charge of home affairs.

                  He has pressed for a more interventionist role on issues relating to Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh from neighbouring Myanmar, urging greater engagement with the rebel groups battling that country’s junta.

                  Hossain openly backed the student movement last month, putting pressure on serving officers not to crack down on protesters — a decision that ultimately forced Hasina’s resignation.

                  – The rest –

                  Psychiatrist Bidhan Ranjan Roy is the sole member from Bangladesh’s minority Hindu community, while former diplomat Supradip Chakma represents the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

                  Faruk-e-Azam fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war, winning an award for gallantry.

                  Local government affairs go to Hassan Ariff is a former attorney general in the last BNP government.

                  Nurjahan Begum, who worked with Yunus at his microfinance lender Grameen Bank, will look after the nation’s health affairs.

                  Khalid Hossain, meanwhile, a former professor of Islamic Studies in Chittagong, will take charge of religious matters — reportedly on the recommendation of Islamist groups.