Dhaka
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh on Thursday to head the caretaker government after a student-led uprising ended Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule.
Yunus, 84, could be sworn in as the country's new leader as early as Thursday evening, launching what the army chief vowed to be a "beautiful democratic process".
A week ago, the prospect of Yunus rubbing shoulders with military leaders seemed almost unthinkable, as security forces shot dead protesters who took to the streets demanding Hasina's resignation.
But over the weekend the army turned against Hasina, forcing her to flee to neighbouring India as millions of Bangladeshis celebrated her death.
The military then agreed to the students' demand that Yunus, who won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, head the interim government.
"I look forward to coming back and seeing what is happening and how we can organize to get out of the difficulties we are facing," Yunus told reporters at Paris airport on Wednesday.
Yunus was sentenced to six months in prison on politically motivated charges and travelled abroad this year while out on bail, but a Dhaka court acquitted him on Wednesday.
"Stay calm and prepare to build your country," Yunus said in a statement on Wednesday before beginning his journey home. "If you choose the path of violence, everything will be destroyed."
Army Commander Gen. Waqer-uz-Zaman said on Wednesday he would swear in a transitional government on Thursday night and support Yunus.
"I'm confident he'll lead us through a great democratic process," Wakel said.
Yunus said he wanted elections to be held "within a few months."
Few other details about the planned government have been made public, including the role of the military.
But Bangladeshis expressed their hope on Wednesday, taking part in a rally in Dhaka organised by the former opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
"I hope that with the consent of the people, a government will be formed in a beautiful way," Moinul Islam Pintu told AFP.
"I want the country to be well run and the police to be reformed so they can't harass our people."
Hasina, 76, who had been in power since 2009, resigned on Monday as hundreds of thousands of people flooded Dhaka's streets.
Jubilant crowds then stormed and plundered her palace.
Monday's events were the culmination of more than a month of unrest that began as protests against a government quota plan and morphed into anti-Hasina protests.
Hasina, accused of fraud in January's elections and widespread human rights abuses, has deployed security forces to quell the protests.
At least 455 people have been killed in the unrest, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and hospital doctors.
Shifting military loyalties were a determining factor in her death.
The military then responded to various demands from student leaders.
The president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, a key demand of the students and the BNP.
The police chief, who protesters accuse of leading Hasina's crackdown, was sacked on Tuesday.
The new head, Mohammed Mainul Islam, apologised on Wednesday for the officers' actions and vowed to carry out a "fair and impartial investigation" into the killings of "students, civilians and police".
Former prime minister and BNP leader Khaleda Zia (78) was also released after years of house arrest, and some political prisoners were also released.
The military demoted several generals seen as close to Hasina and fired Ziaul Ahsan, commander of the feared paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion.
Police said the insurgents retaliated by attacking Hasina's allies and army officers, and freed more than 500 prisoners from the jail.
Protesters broke into parliament, set fire to a television studio and vandalised a statue of Hasina's father, Bangladesh independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
But the capital's streets have been largely calm since Tuesday.
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