'Elections within a few months', Muhammad Yunus tells  Bangladeshis

Muhammad Yunus, who is set to lead a caretaker government after mass protests ousted Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has called on compatriots to be "ready to build the country" ahead of his hugely anticipated return.

"Be calm and get ready to build the country," Yunus said on Wednesday in a statement, a day ahead of his expected return to the country from France, urging calm after weeks of violence in which at least 455 people were killed.

"If we take the path of violence, everything will be destroyed."

There are few other details about the planned government, including the role of the military, but Yunus has said he wants to hold elections "within a few" months.

His statement holds a lot of weight since it comes at a time when tensions still persist on the streets of the country, which faced a violent crackdown by the previous government. Young people are fed up with the old order and have called for an overhaul of the corrupt governing system, which rewards political loyalists.

Meanwhile, the army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said on Wednesday that a new interim government was likely to be sworn in on Thursday evening after Yunus returned to the country,

"We are trying our best to hold the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow."

The Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer will head the interim government after longtime and autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country, the presidency has said.

The appointment came quickly after student leaders called on the 84-year-old Yunus – credited with lifting millions out of poverty in the South Asian country – to lead.

The decision was made in a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, the heads of the army, navy and air force, and student leaders, the president's office said in a statement.

Politically motivated case

Yunus will have the title of chief adviser, according to Nahid Islam, one of the leaders of Students Against Discrimination who participated in the meeting.

Shahabuddin agreed that the interim government "will be formed within the shortest time" possible, Islam told reporters, describing the meeting as "fruitful".

A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday overturned a conviction against Mohammed Yunus, a day before the Nobel winner is set to return to lead a caretaker government.

"The court earlier this year sentenced them to six months in prison," one of his lawyers, Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, said. "The labour court granted an appeal, and acquitted them."

Yunus had travelled abroad earlier this year after he was sentenced to six months in jail for the labour charge – but was immediately bailed pending appeal.

The case was criticised as politically motivated by watchdogs including Amnesty International.