Muhammad Yunus is appointed as the Bangladeshi government’s interim leader on August 6, 2024. (Photo: The Print/VNA)

Yunus, who is in Paris, called on the people to keep calm and get ready to rebuild their country, stressing that if they follow the path of violence, everything will be destroyed. Yunus said elections will be held sometime in the next few months.

Weeks of violence in Bangladesh have killed at least 455 people. Bangladesh’s President dissolved the Parliament on Tuesday at the request of student leaders and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Yunus, 84 years old, is a social entrepreneur and banker who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work that helped alleviate poverty in Bangladesh and was widely adopted around the world.

Yunus went to France early this year when a tribunal in Dhaka acquitted him in a labor law violation case involving a telecommunication company he founded, in which he was previously convicted and sentenced to six months in jail. He had been out on bail during an appeal of the case.

On Wednesday, the French Foreign Ministry warned French citizens against traveling to Bangladesh. India has evacuated all non-essential staff and their families from its embassy and consulates in Bangladesh.

Indian airlines Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo have resumed flights to Dhaka after a one-day hiatus. The airlines have told passengers they may reschedule their travel plans.