Bangladesh’s interim leader has refused to give a timeframe for elections following the ouster of his autocratic predecessor, saying in an interview published  that reforms are needed before polls.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed the country’s “chief advisor” after the student-led uprising that toppled ex-premier Sheikh Hasina in August.

The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is helming a temporary administration, to tackle what he has called the “extremely tough” challenge of restoring democratic institutions.

“None of us are aiming at staying for a prolonged time,” Yunus said of his caretaker government, in an interview published by the Prothom Alo newspaper.

“Reforms are pivotal,” he added. “If you say, hold the election, we are ready to hold the election. But it would be wrong to hold the election first.”

Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to her ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report which said the figure was likely an underestimate.

Her government was also accused of politicising courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.

Yunus said he had inherited a “completely broken down” system of public administration that needed a comprehensive overhaul to prevent a future return to autocracy. 

“Reforms mean we will not allow a repetition of what happened in the past”, he added.

‘Write as you please’ 

Yunus also batted away criticism at the numerous politicians, senior police officers and other Hasina loyalists arrested on murder charges after her government’s ouster. 

The arrests have prompted accusations that Yunus’ caretaker government would hold politicised trials of senior figures from Hasina’s regime. 

But Yunus said it was his intention that any criminal trials initiated against those arrested would remain free from government interference. 

“Once the judicial system is reformed, then the issues will come forward, about who will be placed on trial, how justice will be carried out,” he said.

At least 25 journalists — considered by Hasina’s opponents to be partisans of her government — have been arrested for alleged violence against protesters since her downfall. 

Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders has condemned those arrests as “systematic judicial harassment”.

But Yunus insisted he wanted media freedom.

“Write as you please,” he told the newspaper.

“Criticise. Unless you write, how will we know what is happening or not happening?”