DHAKA, 9 June 2008 — Detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday spurned a government plan to send her abroad for medical treatment while another former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed agreed to abide by a medical board’s recommendation to go to the United States.
Zia, who is on trial for corruption, suffers from arthritis and knee problems according to officials from her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Government-appointed medical boards examined Zia and her younger son Arafat Rahman separately in jail over the past two days, and suggested they might be sent overseas for treatment.
“I won’t go abroad for health treatment. I don’t see a need. Bangladesh has many good doctors,” Zia told a court hearing.
“I will not fall into this trap,” a lawyer quoted her as saying.
Zia demanded immediate election to parliament, saying that a “famine-like situation is prevailing in the country and people are starving.”
About a government move to amend the constitution, Zia, flanked by her lawyers, said if it is needed, the elected government would do it. “This caretaker government has no mandate to change the constitution.”
Hasina, who also faces corruption charges, traveled to the United States last year for medical treatment and to visit her children, and was blocked from returning home. The interim government backed down after protests and she was allowed to return.
Officials say Hasina suffers from high blood pressure, eye problems and hearing impairment caused by grenade blasts in 2004.
A lawyer quoted Hasina, who was also examined by government-appointed doctors, as telling a court yesterday: “I will follow what the doctors think would be best for me.” Zia’s elder son and likely political heir, Tareque Rahman, has also been sick in detention and his doctors told reporters yesterday they might want him treated abroad.
Both former premiers deny any wrongdoing and say the charges are designed to prevent them contesting the election. Hasina’s Awami League and Zia’s BNP demand they be freed unconditionally.
Prison officials said doctors’ reports had been sent to the Home Ministry for a decision on when and where the pair should be treated.
— With input from agencies
