THE LONG ROAD BACK TO DEMOCRACY IN BANGLADESH

AFTER a student-led upsurge ended former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule early this month, Bangladesh installed its most famous citizen Nobel peace laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus as its interim leader until a new election is held.

Yunus, 84, has the backing of the country's powerful military and the endorsement of a group of antiHasina political parties that suffered during her rule characterised by highhandedness, widespread corruption, and denial of a free and fair national vote for years. Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, is known as a "banker to the poor". He is credited with pulling out millions of Bangladeshis, mostly women, from poverty by giving them small loans to start businesses.

Ironically, on August 5 the day Sheikh Hasina stepped down and left for India before tens of thousands of protesters overran her official residence in Dhaka Yunus was set for a court appearance to answer charges of embezzling over $2 million from Grameen Telecom, an allegation he has always denied. He could have been handed a long jail term in addition to the six-month imprisonment (granted bail) he was given earlier for alleged violation of labour laws.

Since his taking over as chief advisor to the interim government, all the casesup to 190 filed by Hasina's government― have been withdrawn. "The monster is gone," exulted Yunus, referring to his bitter critic Hasina, who would dismiss him as a "bloodsucker of the poor".