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Bangladesh
Khaleda Zia calls for nation building
2024-08-07
[Dhaka Tribune] BNP leaders say the loathesome Khaleda Zia
...Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, Pak foil, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...>
 is concerned about the nationwide violence, vandalism and looting of state resources amid the student uprising surrounding a round of anti-discrimination student movement programs.

"Our state's resources are being wasted. This country is ours; we have to build this country," she said during a meeting with Maulana Mamunul Haque, secretary general of Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis, at Evercare Hospital in the capital on Tuesday.
"And I am here to loot and steal offer my leadership"
Earlier in the day, President Shahabuddin Ahmed set the former premier by commuting her jail sentence in line with Article 49 of the Constitution.

After exchanging greetings, she reminisced about her good relationship with Mamunul's father's late Sheikhul Hadis Azizul Haque.

According to the meeting sources, Khaleda Zia stated that causing harm to people's lives and property constitutes a serious incident. Many people are involved in the looting of state resources, which is unjust, she said.

Asked about this, Khilafat Majlis Joint Secretary General Maulana Ataullah Amin said: "Begum Khaleda Zia is an oppressed woman. We were imprisoned for a long time. Maulana Mamunul Haque was also in jail for a long time. Prisoners love prisoners the most. Under the leadership of Maulana Mamunul Haque, we went to the hospital to enquire about her health."

In response to a question about the meeting, Ataullah said: "The situation in the country is not good. He is concerned about the loss of human life and property. Looting state resources is not the right thing to do. Allah will punish those who do injustice, he said. "Begum Zia has asked for prayers for the people of the country, for herself."
Related:
Khaleda Zia 08/06/2024 Satkhira ex-chairman shoots 3 dead, mob lynches him, associates
Khaleda Zia 08/06/2024 Hasina moved to secure location in India
Khaleda Zia 08/06/2024 President Shahabuddin gives nod to form interim government, students demand Dr. Yunus head it

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Bangladesh
No respite in Bangladesh violence over polls
2015-01-19
An 18-year-old man died after unidentified attackers hurled fire bombs at the vehicle in which he was travelling early on Sunday in Southern Barisal, lifting to 27 the death toll from violence in Bangladesh's deepening political crisis since last year's disputed elections.

Bangladesh's government ruled out military deployment to establish order after the latest violence surrounding a standoff between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The violence has worsened steadily since Jan. 5, when protests erupted over last year's election, which was boycotted by the BNP. The renewed tension between the political rivals raises the spectre of a long, destabilising spell of unrest for Bangladesh and its economy.

"There is no such situation in the country requiring the deployment of the army-led joint forces," Asaduzzaman Khan, the junior minister for home affairs, told reporters on Sunday.

At least 30 people, including five police officers, have been injured in attacks on vehicles in Dhaka since Saturday night.

"The culprits won't be spared," Prime Minister Hasina said on Sunday while visiting a hospital to see policemen who had sustained severe burns.

Authorities have blocked popular internet calling and messaging service Viber on security concerns, Jakir Hossain, spokesman for the Bangladesh telecoms authority said.
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Bangladesh
Inu: Khaleda hatching conspiracy with killers
2014-07-17
[Dhaka Tribune] Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu has said BNP Chairperson Begum the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
 has been hatching conspiracy with killers of 1971, 1975 and August 21 grenade attack to grab power.

"If Khaleda Zia assumes power with the killers, rule of murder will be launched and river of blood will be flown in the country " he said while speaking at conference of Dhaka divisional of representatives of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) at the party's Bangbandhu Avenue office on Tuesday.

The minister also said the people of the country will not allow it to happen and the JSD will resist it.

The JSD president accused BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia of, what he said, patronizing the krazed killer outfits saying, "Begum Zia herself creating barriers against all development activities of the present government."
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Bangladesh
60-hr hartal begins
2013-10-27
The BNP-led 18-party alliance is set to enforce the 60-hour non-stop countrywide hartal from today dawn to mount pressure on the government to realise the key demand for a non-party poll-time government to oversee the next general elections.

BNP Chairperson and Leader of the Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia from the much- talked about October 25 grand rally announced the hartal, giving the government time until yesterday (Saturday) to initiate dialogue over the issue. According to her announcement, the hartal will end on Tuesday dusk.

Terming the government as 'illegal', she at that rally warned the Opposition would go for tougher programme if the demand goes unheeded. She also invited all to join the 18-party's next street movement. "From October 27, the present government will be illegal. If the negotiation is not held within the time, the government will be responsible for all the consequences," she had said.

In this backdrop, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday evening phoned Khaleda Zia and invited her at a dinner at Gono Bhaban, the official residence of the PM, on Monday to discuss the poll-time government issue. The PM in the telephonic conversation also requested her counterpart to withdraw the hartal.

The BNP, however, did not withdraw the hartal, saying that they would take decision in this regard after holding dialogue. If the issue of the poll-time government is resolved through holding discussions, then the Opposition will think positively about not enforcing hartal, said a source at BNP Chairperson's office.

At an urgent press briefing at BNP Chairperson's Gulshan office after the telephonic conversation, she said the shutdown can't be called off. Briefing about the conversation, she said that the talks with the ruling party could take place after the strike ends on Tuesday.

In reply to PM's request of withdrawing hartal, Khaleda Zia told her counterpart that as the 18-party has called the shutdown, so the BNP can't take any unilateral decision in this regard without discussing it in the forum of 18-party, Sohel said, quoting the BNP Chief.

Ahead of the hartal, the BNP and alliance partners on Saturday brought out a processions in the city and other parts of the country in support of the hartal. In different parts, leaders and workers of the Opposition alliance engaged in clashes with police and the ruling party men. They also torched and vandalised vehicles.
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Bangladesh
No doubt about article by Khaleda
2013-07-03
[Bangla Daily Star] The Washington Times yesterday confirmed publishing an article by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
 on January 30, which called upon western leaders to save the country's democracy by putting pressure on the government.

The confirmation came hard on the heels of Khaleda's denial in parliament on June 29 of sending any write-up to the US newspaper.

Contacted by The Daily Star yesterday, The Washington Times Executive Editor David S Jackson in an email said his newspaper did carry an article by Khaleda titled "ZIA: The thankless role in saving democracy in Bangladesh."

"The article that appeared in The Washington Times [The thankless role in saving democracy in Bangladesh] was submitted to us by Mark Pursey, a London-based intermediary acting on behalf of Begum Khaleda Zia," Jackson wrote to this correspondent.

He added: "We have been in touch with Mr. Pursey both before and after the publication of the article and we are confident in its authenticity."

Mark Pursey is Founding Managing Partner of a UK-based communications consultancy firm, BTP Advisers.

Asked to comment on Khaleda's denial, BNP Vice Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury last night said, "What she [Khaleda Zia] said on the floor of the parliament.....that's the situation."

Shamsher, now on a visit to Thailand, declined to comment further on the issue, which has already stirred a huge political debate in the country.

The January 30 byline write-up, which appeared in the opinion section of The Washington Times, drew huge public attention. At the bottom of the article, Khaleda was identified as former prime minister and current leader of opposition.

There was a reference to GSP in one part of the article.

"They [the US authorities] also must explain to Ms. Hasina that general preferences for trade will be withdrawn if those who support workers' rights and have political views opposed to those of the prime minister are not now allowed to express their beliefs," the article read.

But two days after the US suspended the GSP facility for Bangladesh, Khaleda denied having sent any write-up to the US daily.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
, who was in the House during Khaleda's statement of denial on June 29, showed a copy of the article.

But Khaleda went on saying: "It's not written by me."
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Bangladesh
Islamic party protests turn violent across B'desh
2011-09-20
Violent Muslims? Nah, can't be...
DHAKA: Street marches by members of Bangladesh’s biggest Islamic party seeking the release of its leaders from jail turned violent across the country on Monday, with at least 70 people wounded in clashes, witnesses said.

Activists belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami party, many carrying sticks and throwing rocks, fought running battles with steel-helmeted riot police in Dhaka and set at least 30 vehicles on fire. Twenty people were wounded and police detained nearly 25, the witnesses said.
"Calling all RAB cadres! Calling all RAB cadres! Assemble at the usual banana groves, fields and secret lairs at 3 am! Bring at least four rounds of bullet! That is all!"
“The violence has spread through a large part of the city, with smoke from the burning vehicles filling the sky,” a witness said.

There were similar clashes in Chittagong, Comilla and other cities in which 50 people including police were injured.

Police said Jamaat called the marches to demand the release of the party’s top leaders who have been held in prison for months, facing charges of acts of genocide during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

Jamaat, a political ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, has vowed to free their leaders and support BNP’s campaign to oust the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power.
Since Khaleda and the BNP got waxed in the last election and have lost support amongst the people, violent protest is all they have left...
The government has rejected BNP’s demand for early elections, saying there will be no vote before Hasina completes her five-year term at the end of 2013.
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Bangladesh
Police, protesters clash in Bangladesh, dozens hurt
2011-07-12
DHAKA: Police in Bangladesh on Sunday fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse activists trying to enforce a nationwide strike over the removal of a Muslim phrase in the constitution, and witnesses said around 50 people were injured.

The clashes erupted when thousands of bludgeon-carrying activists cut off a stretch of highway leading to the capital’s eastern suburbs with barricades. The protesters also damaged several cargo trucks before the police crack down, and some 100 people were detained.

The strike, which began two days after the country emerged from a 48-hour stoppage enforced by the opposition, was called to protest a recent amendment to the constitution which dropped the words “absolute faith and trust in Allah.”

The activists also want to scrap “secularism” as a state principle in the Muslim-majority country.

The strike, which was called for by 12 parties, was however, largely ignored by most normal people in Bangladesh, where businesses and transportation was operating as normal.

The strike was spearheaded by the Bangladesh Islami Andolon, one of a handful of small parties that have no representation in parliament but who back the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who is trying to force early elections.
So that she can grab the boodle...
The BNP lost to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League in the 2008 Parliament polls and has since been trying to rally support of other groups.

The two women have dominated the south Asian country’s often volatile politics for two decades and are likely to face off again in the next election due by end of 2013.
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Bangladesh
More violence over Dhaka eviction
2010-11-15
[Al Jazeera] Police and protesters have fought pitched battles across cities in Bangladesh as a nationwide strike called by the main opposition party brought the country to a standstill.

More than 200 have been injured and nearly 300 have been jugged as police fired rubber bullets and used batons on Sunday to disperse muscle of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who were protesting against the eviction of their leader and two-time prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, from her home.

Businesses and schools across the country were closed as a result of the shutdown.

The strike halted almost all transportation in Dhaka, a city of about 12 million people, just as the majority-Mohammedan country begins to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday.

A former commerce minister was among a dozen injured in Chittagong, the country's main port city, while a police inspector was hit by a small bomb in northern Mymensingh city, local police told the AFP news agency.

A police van was burnt by a petrol bomb in Dhaka, where security was tight with at least 10,000 heavily armed coppers and 2,000 members of an elite Rapid Action Battalion out in force, police front man Walid Hossain said.

Hossain said police swung into action at several sites in the capital, using rubber bullets, tear gas and batons after opposition muscle became violent.

Eviction
BNP supporters have accused the government of harassing Zia following her eviction from the residence she has occupied at army headquarters for around 30 years.

Zia's residence in the sprawling compound was leased to her by the government in 1982, after her husband and ex-president, General Ziaur Rahman, was killed in an abortive coup. They had lived in the house for several years.

The current government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the prime minister, who leads the centre-left, secular Awami League party, cancelled Zia's lease last year. They intend to build multi-storey buildings for families of army officers killed in a mutiny in a paramilitary unit headquarters in Dhaka.

Several thousand protesters skirmished with police close to Zia's residence in the garrison area on Friday as the deadline for the expiration of her lease approached.

As Zia was driven from the compound, witnesses and security officials said up to 4,000 protesters armed with sticks and stones set fire to vehicles and attacked officers near the headquarters.

"They broke the front door, cut the grilles and then broke open my bedroom door. They dragged me out and pushed me into a car," Zia said during a live television broadcast, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I was forced out with only one clothing. I was humiliated. They evicted me from my house breaking all rules and regulations. They also hit my family members," she said.

Zia and her centre-right BNP ran the Bangladeshi government from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister in Bangladesh's history.

After Zia's most recent term expired in 2006, an army-backed caretaker government took countrol under emergency law, which was ended in 2008 with Hasina's election. Hasina had been elected once previously, in 1996.
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Bangladesh
One killed, 100 hurt as B'desh police halt protests
2010-07-08
An activist died and more than 100 were wounded when Bangladesh riot police broke up anti-government protests across the country on Wednesday, police and witnesses said, with demonstrators calling for early elections.

The activist died in a stampede when police clashed with demonstrators in Naogaon town, 250 km (160 miles) northwest of the capital, Dhaka.

Police said the cause of death was a heart attack, but the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) blamed police for causing the stampede.

Hundreds of protesters from the BNP, of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and its main ally Jamaat-e-Islami, formed human chains in the capital and elsewhere.

At least 30 people were hurt in Dhaka, and the rest in several cities and district headquarters including Chittagong port, where police arrested nearly 100 activists.

Witnesses and officials said Wednesday's protests were the most violent and widespread since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office in January last year.

"The autocratic government is out to deny us our democratic rights," BNP Secretary-General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said. "This will only compel us to call more protests."

Police are holding dozens of BNP activists following a countrywide strike on June 27 and later arrested three top Jamaat leaders on charges of obstructing police, inciting violence, murder and sedition.

Jamaat denies the charges and says the government is trying to crush anyone who speaks out against it.
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Bangladesh
Bangladesh detains 200 after Jamaat protest violence
2010-07-06
Bangladesh police said on Monday they had detained 200 activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami for staging violent protests after three top party leaders were arrested on charges ranging from obstructing police to sedition.
That was fast. And accomplished without any help from the Rapid Action Battalion, too.
Almost like they were expecting it.
If they were expecting it then it follows that many/most of the 200 detained have violent headaches right now ...
The activists attacked vehicles, public offices and a police station in Chittagong on Sunday when the Jamaat-e-Islami party called for nationwide protests.

They were demanding the release of the three leaders -- party chief Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and another key leader Delwar Hossain Saidee -- who were held on police remand last week for interrogation. Protests were also held in other districts, but police moved in to prevent violence, witnesses and police said. Nearly 150 were detained in Chittagong and the rest across the country, police said. Jamaat is a political ally of the opposition Nationalist Party led by former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who has demanded their release and asked the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stop "persecuting" the opposition.

Many Bangladeshis accuse Jamaat of collaborating with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war of independence, in which around 3 million people were killed at the hands of the Pakistani army and collaborators during the nine-month war.
Things have been awfully interesting in Bangladesh ever since the ISI organized that little troop rebellion.
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Bangladesh
B'desh upholds death sentences on Mujib killers
2009-11-20
Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld death sentences on five men convicted of killing the country's independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in an army revolt 34 years ago, lawyers and court officials said.

Mujib, whose daughter Sheikh Hasina is prime minister, was slain with most members of his family in the August 15, 1975 revolt, which ended the nation's first spell of democracy and set the stage for a series of coups and foiled coups. "Executions of the Mujib killers would relieve the nation of a great burden and restore rule of law," said Abu Yusuf Humayun, a senior state prosecutor.

"We had been waiting so long for the final judgement. Today we have that and hope they will be executed soon," he told reporters at the court. Fifteen men, mostly former army officers, were sentenced to death by a Dhaka court in 1998, but the high court later reprieved three of them. Of the remaining 12, six fled, one died abroad and the other five remain in prison awaiting execution. Lawyers said that following Thursday's ruling the death sentences on all 12 convicts have been retained.

Legal experts said the men on death row would still have the right to apply to the Supreme Court for a review of Thursday's verdict and then finally to the president for mercy. The trial of Mujib's killers began only after Hasina was first elected prime minister in 1996. The process was slow because of legal complications and came to a halt after her rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, came to power in 2001. After assuming office for a second spell in January, Hasina vowed to complete the trial of her father's killers as soon as possible.

Celebrations: As the verdict was pronounced on Thursday, hundreds of supporters of Hasina and her Awami League party burst into cheers and shouted "justice delayed but not denied". Heavy security was imposed at the court and throughout the capital for the verdict as authorities feared a backlash by supporters of the killers, but no violence was reported.
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Bangladesh
BNP protests lease cancellation of Khaleda’s cantt residence
2009-04-10
Leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday warned at a protest rally that the government will be responsible for any untoward situation in the country if it does not cancel the decision of cabinet meeting.

It may be mentioned here that the government has decided on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting that it will request the cantonment board to cancel Khaleda Zia's cantonment residence.
She finally has a reason to cry ...
BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said, "We do hope that the government will rethink the cabinet decision otherwise it will be responsible for any untoward situation in the country. Do not try to harass Begum Zia mentally or any other way. The people of the country will not accept it," he was speaking at a protest rally organized by BNP in front of Nayapaltan Party office yesterday.

He said the government has started politics with a settled issue avoiding national issues. "The government has failed to run the country within three months. People are vexed with oppressions of AL leaders and activists. We are requesting the government not to interfere with law," he said, adding "that the decision is the outcome of vindictive politics and I feel shame when I thing of that narrow minded decision.

Standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharref Hossain said, "The cantonment board handed over the residence to Begum Khaleda Zia in a legal process. The cantonment board can cancel the lease of Khaleda's residence not the government."

He urged the government for withdrawing the illegal decision otherwise the opposition would go for tougher movement.
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