New interim leader of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus favored by US, Wikileaks reveals

New interim leader of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus, who took the oath of office as the country’s chief advisor earlier this week, is favored by the US Embassy, Wikileaks revealed, citing US diplomatic cables.

The 84-year-old Bangladeshi entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader was sworn in as the leader of a caretaker government on Thursday, a few days after a weeks-long uprising forced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.

In a post on X on Friday, the US-based MintPress News website said that Yunus “has been linked to the US deep state”, according to US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks, a non-profit media organization and publisher of leaked documents.

“The document shows that Yunus expressed interest in entering politics and forming a government during the military rule in Bangladesh from 2006 to 2008,” the report said.

Yunus had traveled abroad this year while on bail after being sentenced to six months in jail over charges of labor law violations, which he had rejected as politically motivated. A Dhaka court on Wednesday acquitted him of all the charges.

This is while the leaked document shows that back “in 2007, Yunus sought assistance from the US ambassador to influence Bangladesh’s caretaker government in changing a law that granted it authority over his Grameen Bank,” the report further said.

Muhammad Yunus takes oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s caretaker government

Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been sworn in as head of Bangladesh

Yunus has a bumpy road ahead with his key tasks being restoring peace in the crisis-hit country and preparing for new elections.

The protests, mostly held by students, began in early July against a quota system that reserved over half of all government jobs for certain groups. The unrest later escalated into wider calls for the resignation of longtime premier Hasina, who finally stepped down and fled the country.

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