Interim leader Muhammad Yunus says Bangladesh is in shambles but at least ‘the monster is gone’

Bangladesh’s acting leader Muhammad Yunus said his priority was to restore law and order after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country in “complete chaos”.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist is the face of the South Asian country’s new leadership, taking over as a top adviser to a caretaker government after street protests forced Hasina, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 15 years, to flee to India.

Mr. Yunus called the student protest a “revolution.”

“Law and order is the priority so that people can sit down and get to work,” the new leader told a briefing in the capital Dhaka.

He also promised to oversee broader reforms, such as strengthening freedom of speech after years of near-authoritarian rule that was a “mess, a complete mess.”

“Even the government, what they did, whatever they did, just doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “They had no idea what government was.”

But now there is hope, he said. “We are a fresh, new face for them, for the country,” Mr. Yunus said. “Finally, at this moment, the monster is gone.”

Nearly 500 people were killed in the violent protests, which started out as demands to lower controversial job quotas but soon turned into anti-government agitation.

Law and order broke down after Ms Hasina fled in a military helicopter earlier this month. To make matters worse, police went on strike to protest the killing of more than a dozen of their comrades during the violence.

Last weekend, agitation leaders demanded the resignation of Supreme Court Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan. He quickly resigned, along with five other high court judges.

Mr. Yunus has presented ensuring the “independence of the judiciary” as another of his priorities. He said the previous system was not and operated on the orders of “some higher authority.”

“In technical terms, he was the chief judge,” the new leader said, referring to Mr. Hassan. “But in reality, he was just an executioner.”

Mr Yunus faced legal crackdowns during the Hasina government after being charged in several cases that his supporters condemned as “politically motivated revenge”.

He was convicted earlier this year of violating the country’s labor law and sentenced to six months in prison. But he was released on bail and recently acquitted of the charges, just before taking office as the new leader.

Ms Hasina claims her ouster was engineered by the United States, which was furious with her for refusing to hand over control of the island of St Martin in the Bay of Bengal, Economic times reported.

Washington has denied the accusations.

“We had no involvement at all. Any reports or rumors that the United States government was involved in these events are simply false,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news conference Monday.