Former Bangladeshi PM is charged with murder
Thursday, 12 April 2007
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Bangladeshi politics was thrown into chaos yesterday after police filed murder charges against the country's former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
The move came on the same day that severe movement restrictions were placed on another former prime minister and Ms Hasina's arch rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, in effect placing her under house arrest.
A further 55 political activists, largely from the political alliance led by Ms Hasina's Awami League, were also facing murder charges, according to police.
The murder charges relate to the killing of five people from a rival political party in October last year during riots that swept across Bangladesh. It was unclear exactly what role police believe Ms Hasina played in the murders but there was speculation she will be accused of masterminding the killings.
The months of violent street protests left more than 45 people dead in the run up to elections, which were eventually cancelled because alliances led by Ms Hasina and Ms Zia, who are known to despise each other, failed to reach an agreement on a caretaker government that would guide the country towards peaceful elections.
In January, the country's President, Iajuddin Ahmed, declared a state of emergency and brought in the military to help install thecaretaker government.
Speaking from the US, where she is visiting her children, Ms Hasina called the charges a "fool's paradise" and said she would return to Bangladesh to face her accusers.
"I am looking to come back home early and am already looking for a ticket," she told the BBC's Bengali service. "The government thinks it can intimidate me, but it has forgotten that members of my party successfully fought against another military government during the Bangladeshi war of independence in 1971."
Police said the murder case against Ms Hasina would be held on 22 April.
Ms Hasina is also facing separate investigation into accusations by a businessman that she extorted more than $400,000 (£202,000) while she was Prime Minister between 1996 and 2001.
The restrictions placed on Ms Zia relate to corruption charges her son, Tarique Rahman, is facing.
Bangladesh's politics has been dominated by the bitter political rivalry between Ms Hasina and Ms Zia's families for decades and the feuding has often brought the country to a standstill.
Ms Hasina is the daughter of Bangladesh's first "president-for-life", Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, while Ms Zia is the widow of General Ziaur Rahman, who took power in a coup after the president's assassination, but later restored democracy before being assassinated himself. Their parties are able to mobilise huge numbers of people for street protests.
Many believe the military were forced to step in because the stalemate was harming the country's economic growth, which had, until recently, been relatively unaffected by the country's tumultuous politics.
Some analysts believe that the current government may be trying to force Ms Hasina and Ms Zia into political exile, similar to the way Pakistan's military forced Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif into exile after their bickering brought Pakistani politics to a standstill.
"What is happening in Bangladesh is similar to Pakistan in the late 90s," Dr Gareth Price, a regional specialist at Chatham House, said. "The caretaker government seem to be trying to force out the two people that they believe have brought Bangladeshi politics to a standstill. The hope is for a "third force", an independent party untainted by corruption, to form the alternative."
The difficulty for the government, however, is that Ms Hasina's Awami League and Ms Zia's Bangladesh National Party (BNP) remain popular and finding an alternative may prove problematic.
