Leaders | Caretaker, take care

After the revolution, Bangladesh is stable. For the moment

Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader, needs to set a date for elections

Muhammad Yunus at the COP29 Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 13th 2024
Photograph: AP

Revolutions often end badly. Bangladesh’s autocratic leader, Sheikh Hasina, was overthrown by student-led protests in August. Muhammad Yunus, a microfinance pioneer and Nobel peace laureate who now leads a caretaker government, has restored order. The police are mostly back in their posts, having abandoned them when Sheikh Hasina, who had ordered them to shoot and kill protesters, fled to India. The economy is no longer in free-fall. Remittances, worth 5% of GDP, have stabilised. Yet huge challenges loom. How Bangladesh deals with them will affect not only the lives of its 173m people, but also its neighbours and the rivalry between India, China and the West.

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This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Caretaker, take care”

From the November 16th 2024 edition

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