DHAKA, 16 March 2007 — Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed said yesterday she supported a crackdown on corruption launched by the army-backed interim administration, and would pursue it further if voted to power in elections.
Security forces have detained more than 160 senior political figures, including the son of immediate past Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, since emergency was imposed in January in a drive to clean up politics ahead of elections.
“They are doing good things, which the people sought for a long time. If we go back to power we will ratify their actions,” Hasina told reporters before leaving for the United States.
Under the constitution, decisions of the caretaker administration must be approved by the next elected government. No date for elections, which were earlier scheduled for January, has been announced yet.
Hasina, leader of the Awami League party, planned to spend time with her daughter and son in the US, an aide said, after the caretaker administration banned all political activity.
“I am not leaving the country indefinitely. Why should I,” Hasina said. “I will come back soon.” She hoped elections would be held as soon as possible.
Bangladeshis have generally welcomed the anti-graft drive and say that the interim authority must be given time to carry out its campaign to ensure a free and fair election.
Meanwhile, a former Bangladeshi army officer wanted for his role in the 1975 military-backed coup in the South Asian nation has been arrested in the United States, officials said on Wednesday.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fugitive operations department raided an address in Los Angeles on Tuesday and arrested Mohiuddin A.K.M. Ahmed, an ICE statement said.
Ahmed, 60, is wanted in Bangladesh for playing a part in the overthrow that resulted in the assassination of the country’s first president and founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, according to the statement.
In 1998, Ahmed was convicted by the Bangladesh high court in absentia for his role in the coup and assassination and sentenced to death.
Sheikh Mujib was killed on Aug. 15, 1975, along with his wife and several family members. The coup also saw several of the president’s aides killed.
His daughter, Hasina Wajed, later became prime minister of Bangladesh between 1996 and 2001 and leads the Awami League, which heads a coalition of 19 opposition parties.
The ICE said Ahmed first entered the US on a visitor’s visa in 1996 before he was ordered deported by an immigration judge in 2002.
An appeals court in San Francisco last month rejected a bid from Ahmed to review the case, allowing the earlier deportation order to stand, the statement said.
