Bangladesh: Interim government to take oath tomorrow, announces Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman

He said the oath-taking ceremony will take place at 8 pm.

The Army chief was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune: "We are making every effort to hold the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow (Thursday)."

"There was a proposal to hold it in the afternoon. However, that would result in a very tight schedule because Dr Yunus is expected to arrive in the country around 2:10pm. It would be difficult to arrange the ceremony after that. Therefore, we may hold it around 8pm. The arrangement will accommodate a total of 400 people," he said.

Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday appealed to students and political parties that they should remain calm and work towards building Bangladesh.

Yunus, who will head an interim government, described the fall of former PM Sheikh Hasina-led government as the 'Second  Victory Day'.

In a statement issued by the Yunus Centre, the Grameen Bank founder said: " I congratulate the brave students who took the lead in making our Second Victory Day possible and to the people for giving your total support to them. Let us make the best use of our new victory.  Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes. I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm."

He urged students to refrain from the path of violence.

"Please refrain from all kinds of violence. I appeal to all students, members of all political parties and non-political people to stay calm.  This is our beautiful country with lots of exciting possibilities. We must protect and make it a wonderful country for us and for our future generations," he said.

According to Bangladeshi media reports, Yunus is likely to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia, who is a longtime rival of Sheikh Hasina, urged students and protesting people to set aside thoughts of revenge and unite to rebuild the country.

She also urged everyone to be patient, the party's secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star.

Zia was released from prison a day after Hasina quit and escaped to India amid violent anti-government protests which left over 100 people dead.

Former PM Sheikh Hasina was forced to quit and escape to India on Monday amid violent protests which left over 100 people dead in the country.