DHAKA, 9 May 2007 — Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is still facing curbs on her movements despite assurances from the military-backed government that no restrictions are in force, an aide said yesterday.
Several senior leaders from her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had been turned away from her home by security guards, the source told AFP.
The emergency government abandoned a plan to exile both Khaleda and her archrival Hasina Wajed, leader of the Awami League party, last month. At the time, it said Khaleda was not under house arrest and denied that it had tried to drive her out of the country.
“Even the people who are very close to her are not allowed to meet her,” the aide said. Political meetings and street demonstrations have been banned by the government.
Another aide said Khaleda also needed clearance from security officials to leave her home in Dhaka’s cantonment (military area). “Her phone lines have also been cut off, making it impossible to maintain regular contact with her,” he said.
Bangladesh’s High Court on Sunday asked the government to explain the restrictions on Khaleda within four weeks, said Abdul Wadud Khandaker, a former BNP-appointed additional attorney general, who lodged the case.
It also ordered that her telephone lines be reconnected within three days, provided she had paid all bills, he added.
The current additional attorney general, Salauddin Ahmed, told the court that there were no restrictions on Khaleda’s movements and no bar on anyone from visiting her. “In an earlier case, the government affirmed this position in writing,” Ahmed told reporters after the hearing.
