'When you hear from us, that will be the date': Yunus on election

The interim government will decide when elections will be held, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said in an exclusive interview with the Voice of America.

"When you hear it from our mouths, that will be the actual date. The advisory council has discussed the term of the interim government, but no decision has been made yet," he said in the interview after his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week.

Speaking about the army chief's recent comment that a transition to democracy should be made within 18 months, Yunus said, "If you want, you can suppose that this is the term of the interim government, but that is not the government's opinion. The government will have to say what its term will be. Unless the government says so, it cannot be considered the term of the government."

Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman has vowed to back the country's interim government "come what may" to help it complete key reforms after the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina so that elections could be held within the next 18 months.

General Waker, in a recent interview with Reuters, said the interim government led by Chief Adviser Yunus had his full support and outlined a pathway to rid the military of political influence.

Regarding the decision to grant magistracy powers to military officers about a month and a half after assuming power, Yunus said during the student-led mass uprising, the public developed a negative perception of the police due to their actions, including the killing of students. 

"As a result, the police force's morale was broken, and they were unable to maintain law and order. Even deploying the Ansar force was not effective. Therefore, military officers were given magistracy powers for two months to control the situation," he said.

"Various forms of unrest were emerging, particularly worker dissatisfaction in our garment factories. We felt that if the situation continued, it would escalate. The issue of giving magistracy powers to the army came up. They said, 'We are present, but no one listens to us because we don't have any authority. If we had some power, perhaps they would respect us.' So, we gave them magistracy powers," Yunus added.

Responding to a question about whether students are running the country and if so, how much they are contributing, the chief adviser said, "I've always said that they should be running it. I'm not saying they are, but they should be. The youth should be in charge because they are the ones who will shape their future."

On the issue of bringing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina back to Bangladesh from India, the chief adviser said it was a legal matter. "We will certainly try to extradite her, no matter where she is, so we can implement whatever legal decision is made in that regard," he added.

Regarding relations with India, the chief adviser said, "Both our countries have a shared interest in building a close, harmonious relationship. Sometimes, issues arise, such as border shootings where children have been killed, which deeply hurt us. We don't believe that the Indian government does this intentionally. We aim to eliminate the causes behind such incidents so that people can live safely and move freely."