B'desh army chief, Yunus differ on holding elections

Differences between Bangladesh's caretaker administration and the military appear to have come to a head, with the army pushing chief adviser Muhammad Yunus to hold elections by the end of the year so that an elected government is in place by early 2026, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI:

The interim government's inability to fix a timeline for the elections and a controversial proposal to establish a corridor from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh to Myanmar's Rakhine state to help Rohingya refugees are among the key issues of divergence between the army and the interim government, people in New Delhi and Dhaka said on condition of anonymity.

Nobel laureate Yunus became head of the caretaker administration last August after protests spearheaded by students led to the dramatic collapse of the government of Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in self-exile in New Delhi.