Sheikh Hasina will return to Bangladesh when elections are called, son says

Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina will return to the country after the interim government announces fresh elections , her son said.

Ms Hasina, 76, fled to India, ending her 15-year-long rule , after millions of people poured onto the streets of Dhaka and marched toward her official residence, demanding her resignation.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the US-based son of Ms Hasina, said his mother was in India but would return "to Bangladesh the moment the interim government decides to hold an election". "My mother would have retired from politics after the current term," Mr Joy told the Times of India .

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has called for a fresh general election in three months.

"I never had any political ambition and was settled in the US. But the developments in the Bangladesh in the past few days show that there is a leadership vacuum. I had to get active for the sake of the party and I am at the forefront now," Mr Joy said.

His statement comes just hours after Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh's interim government.

The figurehead president Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Mr Yunus for his role as chief adviser, which is the equivalent to a prime minister, in the presence of diplomats, civil society members, top businessmen and members of the former opposition party at the presidential palace in Dhaka.

No representatives of Ms Hasina's Awami League party were present.

Mr Yunus, 84, an economist credited with pioneering microlending, upon his arrival in Dhaka said his priority would be to restore order. "Bangladesh is a family. We have to unite it," Mr Yunus said, flanked by student leaders. "It has immense possibilities."

"Bangladesh has created a new victory day," he told reporters on Thursday. "Bangladesh has got a second independence."

The newly-appointed Home Ministry adviser Retired Brig Gen M Sakhawat Hossain on Friday said the interim government's first priority would be to improve law and order and bring the police back.

There has been concern about the rise in targeted violence against the minority Hindus and routine arson.

Brig Gen Hossain told Reuters the administration was "very concerned" about reports of vandalism and attacks on minorities, adding that some were "slightly exaggerated".

"Yes, there is a problem because law enforcement agencies are not there," he said. "They have to be given confidence so that they can come back."

Police across the South Asian country of 170 million people have been off duty and in disarray since Ms Hasina abruptly resigned following the wave of student-led protests that turned violent.

Police stations have been deserted by officers, with students and volunteers forming groups to patrol neighbourhoods in the capital and manage traffic on the streets.

The protest against government job reservation for war heroes turned into a mass uprising after more than 300 demonstrators were killed in a police crackdown in July. But Ms Hasina’s resignation did not put an end to the rampage.

At least 232 people have been killed since she escaped on Monday, taking the death toll in the protests to 560, according to Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo .