Desk report
The interim government’s chief advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has said that Islamic extremism will not come to Bangladesh. He said that the youth of Bangladesh are very impartial in matters of religion and said that the youth want to rebuild the country.
Dr. Yunus said this in an interview given to the influential British magazine The Economist. The video of the interview was published on the Economist’s website on Friday.
Bangladesh has been selected as the Economist’s country of the year in 2024. The country of the year is not chosen as the happiest or richest, but rather as the country that has improved the most in the last 12 months. In choosing Bangladesh as the country of the year, the Economist has given importance to the fall of the authoritarian Sheikh Hasina government in the student-people’s uprising and the beginning of a new journey in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus was interviewed in the context of Bangladesh receiving the title of country of the year.
. The Economist’s foreign affairs editor Patrick Follis interviewed Yunus. He initially congratulated Dr. Yunus on Bangladesh being the Economist’s country of the year and asked for his reaction. In response, Dr. Yunus said, “We are happy, very proud. We have really made a big difference. The uprising happened because of the students. Since then, we have been saying that we want to build a new Bangladesh.”
Patrick Follis wanted to know that US and Indian officials have warned that there is a risk of Islamic extremism returning to Bangladesh. How do you see this? In response, Dr. Yunus assured him that nothing like this is going to happen in Bangladesh. The country’s youth are very energetic. They are very open-minded about religion. These youth want to build a new Bangladesh.
The Chief Adviser cited the recent mass uprising as an example of how powerful the youth are. He said, “Let us focus on the youth, especially the young women. The young women played a very important role in the uprising in Bangladesh. Like any youth in the country, they were at the forefront (of the uprising). We should focus on the youth and ensure that their dreams are fulfilled.”
Noting that the youth of Bangladesh are no less in terms of qualifications, Dr. Yunus said that the three youth who led the uprising have been included in the ‘cabinet’ of the interim government. They are now members of the ‘cabinet’ and are doing a remarkable job. They are not the youth of the last century, but of this century.
When asked what he wants to do after the Bangladesh elections, Dr. Yunus said, “Actually, I was taken away from my work. I was forced into this work. I was doing my work, enjoying it. That’s why I was in Paris. I was taken away from Paris to do something different. So I will be happy to go back to the work that I have always done and enjoyed in my life.”
